


Promises

by magical-illusion13 (coldnightairinmylungs)



Series: Secrets - Promises - Expectations [2]
Category: Karlie Kloss - Fandom, Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-05-25 14:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14979569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldnightairinmylungs/pseuds/magical-illusion13
Summary: With the release and success of her new album, Taylor finds herself in the spotlight once more - and at the same time in a predicament that is as terrifying as it is liberating for her and Karlie.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally uploading this story, sorry for making you wait for so long! Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed 'Secrets'!  
> If you're new here - this is the sequel to my other story, please read 'Secrets' before this one, otherwise it will not make sense.
> 
> Thank you so much reading, please like and comment!

Karlie opened the glass door that led to the backyard, enjoying the fresh breeze that entered the house. She stepped outside, holding a glass of orange juice. The early morning sun’s rays were not warm yet compared to the temperature that would be during the day, but already warm compared to New York, where it was already chilly. After a minute Karlie stepped inside again, not wanting the cats to sneak out while she wasn’t looking, and checked her phone. It was a few minutes before 8 am.

She went further into the room and picked up Olivia who had been straying around the house.

“Hello Dibbles, are you excited to see Tay on TV, too?” she cooed at the small, white kitten as she sat down on the couch.

The young cat meowed in response, and Karlie laughed. She switched on the TV, but the program Taylor would be on was still showing advertisements. Karlie yawned. She had already gone for a short run, the morning air feeling refreshing, but now that she was sitting on the couch again, hair still wet from her shower and in comfortable clothes, she felt tired again. She hadn’t heard Taylor leaving early in the morning, the singer having to be at the studio in downtown LA early for hair and make-up.

“Good morning California!” the announcer’s voice could suddenly be heard from the TV, and Karlie directed her attention towards it.

The theme song started playing and a summary of the breaking news was given, then the studio with the hosts and audience appeared on screen. Karlie had no idea at what time Taylor would enter the studio, as this wasn’t a news program she usually watched, given the fact that it wasn’t broadcast in her area.

She felt nervous, like she always did whenever Taylor did anything. Olivia, however, did not seem too excited about seeing her human on TV, as Karlie realized when she looked down on her lap and saw that the kitten had fallen asleep. Meredith was still upstairs, and Karlie always thought it was funny how the cats had no idea who their human companion was.

Around twenty minutes into the program, Taylor was finally announced and entered the studio with thunderous applause from the audience and took a seat on the coach between the two hosts. Karlie’s breath hitched in her throat at the sight of her; she would never get used to how different Taylor looked on TV and in private. Her appearance was much bolder, more out-going, but also more feminine in front of the cameras. She was wearing a dress with t-shirt sleeves and a bold black, yellow and gray pattern, and her signature red lipstick. Her recently cut hair was at shoulder-length and straightened.

Even though Karlie already knew everything that was being discussed by Taylor and the hosts, she still listened attentively, unable to tear her eyes away from her girlfriend.

“So, Taylor, your new album 1989 was only released a week ago, and it has already made history! We got the statistics on the first week sales this morning and it sold 1.287 million copies so far! That is amazing!” the host announced.

“Thank you! I’m really thankful for everyone who bought it and likes the music. It means a lot to me!” Taylor said and smiled.

Karlie felt so proud of her. She had been the first one to listen to the album, and she would always hold the memory of that day close to her heart.

They kept talking about this and that, until the host announced they would talk about the individual songs on the album. Karlie suddenly felt even more nervous, knowing that she was the inspiration behind some of them.

“So, the first song on the record is called ‘Welcome to New York’, and it’s kind of a love letter to the place you now call home, the Big Apple” the host started.

“And some are actually calling this song ‘an equality anthem’, because of the following lyrics, quote ‘and you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls.’ Tell us what inspired the song.”

Karlie gulped, and she could see Taylor doing the same on the screen. Taylor had rehearsed answering questions like this one, but she was still obviously nervous.

“Uh, well the song is inspired by what I love about New York, which is just kind of there’s a freedom to um, and there’s a celebration of being unique” Taylor started to explain, all the while fiddling with the rings on her fingers and not looking at the camera.

Karlie could feel her heart beating out of her chest. Olivia, who had been napping in her lap, seemed to sense her nervousness and woke up and started fidgeting.

“Um, you know, that was something I was very inspired by. And it’s, you know, so many of my friends had to be scrutinized for who they were in love with, you know from the time they came out, and I just … you know I didn’t wanna make a big deal out of it, because I don’t think it should be a big deal who you love, you know.”

At the last sentence Taylor finally looked towards the audience, who erupted in applause at her statement, and the hosts shared the sentiment. Taylor took a sip of water, and the host announced a break, then an advertisement started playing.

Karlie let out the breath she had been holding and picked up Olivia. She went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and when she put Olivia down onto the floor the cat immediately ran away and upstairs, probably to be with Meredith.

 _I wish I was a cat, unbothered by the world,_ Karlie thought to herself and grinned at the thought.

She made her way back to the couch, and the program resumed shortly after. Taylor and the hosts went through the album track by track, and Taylor explained the songs as best as she could. After yet another break, Taylor’s appearance at the show neared its end, and she talked to the hosts freely.

“So, Taylor, let me ask, how did you spend the last week? How does one spend their time when their album debuts at number one?” one of the hosts asked, making everyone else laugh.

“Oh, you know, I was pretty busy actually, I’ve been in both New York and LA, doing interviews and performances. The weekend I spent with my friends here in LA, actually, I had Selena and another friend over at my house and we just had a good time” Taylor said.

Karlie felt like someone had stabbed her heart. _Another friend_. She knew that Taylor obviously could not say ‘my girlfriend’, but it still hurt. The three of them hadn’t done anything special, just hung out and relaxed, but it had nevertheless been great fun. Karlie hated how Taylor’s statement made her feel, even though she knew that if she could, Taylor would shout ‘Look at my girlfriend!” from the rooftops of NYC, LA and any other major city in the world. But she couldn’t, so here they were.

“That sounds great” the host replied and smiled at Taylor.

“You seem to be spending a lot of time with your girlfriends lately” she continued.

“You went to Big Sur with a friend a while ago, and you’ve been spotted out and about with Selena Gomez, the Haim sisters and others recently. You seem to be enjoying life right now?” she asked towards the singer.

“Yeah, I really am” Taylor replied and smiled.

“My move to New York has been really good for me, and I’m very happy right now” she added and smiled genuinely.

Karlie’s heart started pounding in her chest again. Despite the hurt from Taylor’s previous statement and the fact that the host had called their one year anniversary road trip ‘with a friend’, she was beyond happy that she had a part in Taylor’s happiness, too.

The host smiled back at her.

“So, Taylor, can I ask? Does your happiness also have anything to do with a man in your life, are you seeing anyone?” she asked.

Taylor looked caught off guard by the question.

“Oh, uh … no, I’m single and happy right now” she replied, doing her best to smile.

“That’s great!” the host said, but Karlie didn’t hear much more of what was being said.

She felt like someone had just stabbed her heart again, and then again and again. Tears started forming in her eyes and made their way down her cheeks. She clutched the pillow closest to her and turned her eyes away from the TV.

 _Don’t be an idiot_ , she scolded herself. _What is she supposed to say? Oh yeah I have a girlfriend actually, surprise!?_

They had discussed time and time again, with and without Tree, Taylor’s publicist, how they would go about keeping their relationship private and how Taylor would act in interviews. Nevertheless, it still hurt Karlie to hear it out of Taylor’s mouth, especially when she knew that Taylor had requested to not be asked any private questions.

The show was over and Karlie mindlessly switched off the TV, then curled up on the couch, still clutching the pillow. She was deep in thought and couldn’t keep a few more tears from falling. After a while she heard her phone vibrating on the couch table quickly in succession, but she didn’t look at it. She knew that it was Taylor, but she wanted to be left alone for a few more minutes until the singer came home.

She realized she must’ve fallen asleep, because she was gently woken up by Taylor who had sat down at the edge of the couch, nudging her arm.

“Hey, good morning” Taylor whispered carefully.

Karlie opened her eyes.

“Oh, you’re back. Good morning” she replied quietly and tried to sit up so that she was now close to Taylor, facing her.

Taylor gently ran her fingers through Karlie’s hair and rubbed her thumb at the tear stains on her cheek. Karlie closed her eyes at the comforting touch.

“You’ve been crying” Taylor stated quietly, it wasn’t a question.

“Did you see my texts? I’m so sorry, Kar” she added sadly.

Karlie opened her eyes again and bit her lip.

“I’m sorry, too. I didn’t read them. I just fell asleep” she replied quietly.

Taylor pulled her in for a tight hug, and Karlie didn’t dare move. Taylor soothingly rubbed her hands over the taller girl’s back.

“I just …” Karlie started when they separated, and averted her eyes from Taylor.

“I know it’s not your fault. I just feel so stupid. Being referred to as ‘a friend’ and you saying you’re single … that hurt. I know we’ve talked about it … it’s still hard” she said quietly.

Taylor put her finger under Karlie’s chin to have the girl look up at her again.

“I know. I’m so sorry. It made me uncomfortable too. And I wish things were different … but right now I’m in the spotlight and we have to do this …” she trailed off, her fingers tracing along Karlie’s cheekbone.

They held their gaze for a while, blue eyes looking in green.

“And … I wish I could promise you that we can be more open in public in the foreseeable future, but I can’t make any promises now. All I know is that I will do anything to protect what we have … do you trust me?” Taylor added.

“Yeah” Karlie nodded in response.

“I want to be with you, Tay. No matter what” she said softly and smiled at her girlfriend.

Taylor smiled back and closed the small distance between them. Karlie’s lips were so soft and sweet, and she could never get enough. When they pulled apart, Taylor grinned when she saw that she had smeared her red lipstick on Karlie’s mouth.

“Look at you! All messed up!” she giggled, earning a playful shove from her girlfriend.

“I should go upstairs to change into something more comfortable” Taylor said and got up from the couch, pulling Karlie up with her. She was still wearing the same dress she had worn during the broadcast.

“How about we eat a bit of second breakfast and then nap?” she suggested, smiling at Karlie.

“Sounds good to me” the taller girl replied, and they made their way out of the living room.

“I’m gonna make some coffee and sandwiches” Karlie announced and turned towards the kitchen, while Taylor made her way towards the stairs, picking up her purse she had left in the hallway on the way.

“Perfect” she said and turned around towards Karlie again.

“We’re still going out later, right? The weather is gonna be so nice” she assured herself.

“Of course!” Karlie beamed.

Taylor smiled back at her, then made her way upstairs.

Both of them still felt a pang in their chests from the events in the morning, but they knew that they weren’t to blame. They simply had to make the best of their situation. For now, all they could do was focus on the present and enjoy the time they had together.


	2. Two

"We're kind of matching" Taylor stated as they got into the car, referring to her and Karlie's outfits.

Karlie looked down at herself, then at Taylor.

"You're right" she grinned.

"Should I go upstairs and change?" she jokingly asked.

Taylor laughed. They fastened their seatbelts in the backseat and the car started driving, Taylor's security guard sitting in the front.

"They will be able to tell us apart still" she said drily.

They were both wearing a combination of white and light gray shirts and pants as well as sunglasses.

Karlie laughed in response and reached out for Taylor's hand with her own so they could intertwine their fingers during the car ride. They spent the drive mostly in silence, looking out of the window into the busy traffic pointing things out to each other that they saw from time to time.

They left the car at a parking deck downtown, and went by foot, enjoying the warm weather.

"I'm so gonna miss this weather when I'm back in New York" Karlie said, stretching out her long arms and turning her face towards the sun.

"Why did I book that 5 am flight again?" she asked, looking at Taylor dramatically.

"Because you have classes" Taylor responded matter-of-factly.

"Right" Karlie said and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, life can't always be cats and sunshine" Taylor giggled and nudged her girlfriend's arm.

Karlie grinned in response.

"It is when I'm with you."

"Oh God, that was cheesy" Taylor said drily.

"You loved it" Karlie said and winked at Taylor, holding onto her arm.

She glanced behind them and could see Michael, the security guard, grinning at them.

They kept walking until they reached a broad street with many shops and palm trees on each side of the road. There were not many people around, given the fact that it was an early Monday afternoon. But for them, it was ideal.

They went in and out of shops, looking at this and that. Eventually they reached a small boutique that Taylor didn't know.

"I wanna look for a sweater or two to wear when I come back to New York" she stated as they walked inside.

"That's a fantastic idea, so you don't steal all of mine" Karlie replied and grinned.

"Hey!" Taylor said in mock-offense.

"That's not true. I don't steal _all_ your clothes!" She stuck her tongue out at Karlie.

Karlie rolled her eyes.

"Hmm. Haven't seen that Genius sweater in a while" she mumbled.

"Oh yeah, that one doesn't count anymore" Taylor smirked.

The store clerk approached them, obviously having recognized them, but remained polite and professional. They were in a fairly 'normal' area, not one where you would meet a celebrity on every street corner.

Taylor ended up buying a dark blue sweater, and they kept on strolling down the street.

"Oh, can we go to Little Tokyo? It's not far from here, right?" Karlie asked after a while.

This was only her third time in the city, but she loved visiting each time and even already had some favorite spots.

"Yeah, it is. But please don't spend an hour at that electronics store again … please" Taylor said only half-jokingly.

Karlie burst out laughing at the memory.

"Oh come on, it wasn't a full hour … maybe fifty minutes … and you had your impromptu meet and greet with your fans, so everyone was happy" she laughed, recalling the time she had visited Taylor in LA for the first time a few months earlier after the singer had returned from her Australia Tour.

Taylor grinned back. Karlie was right, she had been happy to pass the time in the best way she knew how while waiting for her girlfriend.

They reached the historical Japanese area after a while, and Karlie immediately tried to orientate herself so she could find her favorite shop.

"Ahh, wait, it was on that road over there … ahh I know" she mumbled to herself, leading the way.

"Ah yeah, over there!" she said after a few more minutes of walking.

"That doesn't look like the electronics store" Taylor stated.

"No, it's not! It's the old wagashi store we went to last time, remember? I wanna buy some Japanese sweets. Their mochi is the best!" Karlie said excitedly.

Now Taylor recognized the place.

"Oh, yeah! It was too sweet for me, though."

Karlie bought a package of strawberry mochi that she hoped would last until she arrived back in New York.

"Can we go to that Ramen place again?" Karlie asked hopefully, though she already knew that it hadn't been Taylor's favorite.

"Another time?" the singer asked conciliatorily.

"I was gonna take you to a café near the river, it's not too far from here. I went there with the Haim girls one time and it was lovely" she offered.

"Sounds good! I could really use a late lunch!" Karlie said and smiled.

They walked around some more and in the general direction of the café, Taylor's security guard always trailing behind them. Taylor was stopped by fans along the way a few times, but nothing too crazy happened. She felt lucky that she could have her album at no. 1 in the charts worldwide and still enjoy a somewhat normal afternoon.

However, the relative normalcy of their afternoon ended there.

Karlie looked at the fancy café in awe when they arrived there. It was inside a spacious building with brick walls and had a big patio, where customers were sitting outside around small tables. They looked for an empty table, wanting to enjoy the warm weather, but they were all occupied. They opted for a table for two inside near the window, Taylor's security guard sitting nearby as usual.

"This place is amazing!" Karlie said as they sat down and she looked around. The room was lit up by two big chandeliers hanging from the ceilings.

"I know, I was in awe too" Taylor replied and smiled.

"I know it's a bit fancy, but I'm inviting you today" she added.

"Thank you" Karlie said and smiled back.

Their usual agreement was to split the bill, but in some cases Taylor insisted on inviting Karlie, not wanting the student to spend over her budget. It was times like these when they were all too aware of the differences in their life circumstances, but luckily it had ceased to be an issue the longer they had been together.

They looked through the menu and both ordered a large Greek salad as well as bread and hummus.

"The waiter looked like he wanted to say something to you" Karlie giggled after they had both placed their orders.

"Right? Este said that this isn't an unusual place for celebrities, though" Taylor wondered.

"Maybe he's a fan?" Karlie grinned.

"Maybe. I should offer to take a picture with him when we leave" Taylor said.

It wasn't that Karlie wasn't used to the attention they received when they were in public together by now, it was just that it still felt surreal from time to time. Since their first date at The Reign Coffee in a student area, to going ice-skating in Central Park, and various other dates, Taylor had never been approached rudely when they were together, though.

"You're too nice" Karlie said, even though Taylor's contact to her fans was something she had always admired, even before they had met in person.

Taylor smiled at her, but she couldn't shake off this vague feeling of uneasiness that had taken a hold of her since they had sat down. She felt like all eyes in the room were on them. It reminded her of the time in New York when a paparazzo had taken their picture and it had led to a fight between them because Taylor hadn't told Karlie she had seen him. However, since that time they had been papped involuntarily a few more times, every time in New York and LA, but Karlie had taken it with ease.

"Do you think fans recognize you too by now?" Taylor asked cautiously, trying to get rid of the thoughts in the back of her mind.

Karlie shrugged in response.

"I don't think so. Maybe some very dedicated people. I should ask the twins if they read anything" she giggled.

"But I'm sure no one knows my name, at least it didn't appear in any of the articles. I'm just your 'beautiful mystery friend' or, as they say, 'gal pal'" she added and laughed.

Taylor grinned back at her.

"But seriously, thank you for taking it so lightly. I will never take that for granted" she said sincerely and reached across the table to quickly squeeze Karlie's hand.

Karlie smiled.

"It's something I had to get used to, and I'm not saying I'm completely comfortable, but I just want to be with you, so that makes it worth it" she said.

"Thank you" Taylor said quietly.

Their orders arrived, the waiter looking everywhere but Taylor, and they started eating.

"This is great" Karlie said enthusiastically.

Taylor just nodded with her mouth full, glad that the taller girl liked the food.

They talked about this and that, enjoying their meal and their time together before Karlie would have to leave early the next morning.

"Should we watch a movie later?" Taylor suggested, and Karlie nodded.

"I haven't watched 'Guardians of the Galaxy' yet …" Karlie grinned, knowing full well that her girlfriend didn't care about the movie.

Taylor groaned.

"I thought maybe a romantic comedy or something. Or a crime show" she grinned back.

This was a conversation they had every time, but they usually ended up finding something they both wanted to watch.

"Let's talk about that later" Karlie suggested and took a sip of her water.

Suddenly, they became aware of a commotion outside their window, on the patio. Taylor, who was sitting with her back to the window, turned around – and froze.

Outside there were two men, casually dressed and wearing sunglasses, pointing their camera lenses at the window they were sitting behind. As soon as she had turned around, they had started taking pictures, the flashing never stopping. She quickly turned around again and looked at Karlie with a confused look.

Her security guard came over to their table.

"Miss Swift, there are paparazzi outside. I suppose you did not call them? Do you want to leave?" he asked calmly.

Taylor took a deep breath.

"No, I didn't call them. I don't know how they know we're here. But I want to finish eating first. I don't wanna let them win" she said, her voice shaking.

Karlie reached across the table to touch her hand.

"I think that's a good idea. But if you're too uncomfortable, we can leave" she reassured the singer.

"Thank you. I will be ok" she said and smiled weakly, as if to convince herself.

Her security guard went back to his table, but now watched the two women and the situation outside more closely.

Another waiter went outside to tell the paparazzi to go away and leave his customers alone, but he was not very intimidating and the men with the cameras didn't move an inch. From her seat Karlie could see that the other guests seemed uncomfortable as well, and she felt bad for them.

Taylor suddenly felt dizzy. It wasn't that she had never encountered paparazzi before, but this time felt different. She voiced her feelings to Karlie.

"I feel weird. This has been one hell of an eventful week. The album already exceeded the predicted sales … I don't know" she said weakly.

Karlie looked at her concerned.

"I feel a little stressed, I think? I just wanted a nice afternoon with you, especially after the interview this morning … and now we can't even eat in peace … I feel a little dizzy" she continued.

"We should leave. Maybe we can wait somewhere until Michael gets the car?" Karlie asked, worried about her girlfriend.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'm gonna go to the bathroom for a minute. Can you pay in the meantime?" Taylor asked and reached for her purse.

She handed Karlie her credit card, who then signaled to the waiter that they wanted to pay, and went towards the bathroom, nervously clutching her purse.

Once safely inside a stall, she let out a deep breath.

She had no idea why she was feeling the way she did and tried her best to calm down, not wanting to have an anxiety attack in a public place. She used the breathing technique she had learned years ago.

  _I just want to go home and cuddle,_ she thought to herself. The fact that she and Karlie had to be careful in public not to touch each other too often always bothered her, but right now she really needed her girlfriend's comforting touch to calm down.

After a few minutes she had calmed down and opened the door again, feeling lucky that no one else had entered the bathroom in the meantime. She didn't want to make Karlie wait. She went towards the sink to splash some cold water in her face and over her wrists.

When she looked in the mirror, she almost let out a scream.

She couldn't see her reflection.


	3. Three

Karlie looked at her phone in bewilderment when she saw that Taylor was calling her. Then she realized she had been waiting for her for almost ten minutes, and felt nervousness rising in her chest.

"What's wrong, babe?" she whispered as she picked up the call.

"Karlie" Taylor breathed heavily at the end of the line.

"I …"

"Oh my god, what happened? Are you ok? I'm coming to the bathroom!" Karlie said hastily.

"No!" Taylor interrupted her.

"Sorry … no, it's fine, don't come. I … ugh … do you remember what Code Black Cat means?" she added a bit calmer.

Karlie took in a sharp breath. Of course she remembered.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"I … can't see myself in the mirror. I've been staring at it for a while now. And someone came in earlier and didn't see me …" Taylor explained.

"Oh" was all Karlie could say.

"Exactly. I have no idea how to reverse this. I swear I didn't do it intentionally. I just felt a little dizzy before … Karlie, we need to go home immediately. But I have no idea how" the singer stated, sounding exhausted.

Karlie thought for a while.

"Well Michael is still here too. We can't possibly tell him, right?" she said, glancing in the security guard's direction, who was luckily occupied with his phone.

"No" Taylor said determinedly.

"I have an idea" Karlie said.

"I will give the phone to him and you will say that you're waiting at the backdoor, and we will call a cab to drive us home. In the meantime, he can go back and get the car. It should be a good distraction for the paparazzi as well" she explained.

Taylor thought about it for a while.

"Sounds good" she finally said.

"I have no other idea anyways. Can you put him on the phone?"

Karlie did as she was told.

Michael was very skeptical, but Taylor insisted he didn't need to check on her and that she and Karlie would get home safely. When he couldn't come up with any counter-arguments anymore, he gave in and followed his boss's instructions.

"Thank you, Michael" Karlie did her best to smile sweetly at him and not seem suspicious.

"We will see you at home!"

"Take care, girls!" he replied and took his bag, putting on his sunglasses as he went out the door.

Karlie could see that the paparazzi outside were clearly expecting her and Taylor to follow him and looked confused accordingly when that didn't happen. They tried to get a look inside the café.

The tall girl let out a breath and turned around to go towards the bathroom. When she opened the door, Taylor was nowhere to be seen – but that was why they were doing this in the first place.

"I'm here" she could hear a faint whisper coming from the other side of the room.

She jumped a little in surprise.

"Please don't be scared" Taylor's voice now sounded closer to her, and a soft hand touched her shoulder.

"Oh God … this is really weird" Karlie whispered.

"I know … I'm sorry" Taylor said just as quietly.

She could feel the older girl hugging her, and she hugged her back. It looked like she hugged the air, but nevertheless she could feel Taylor's body and inhale the sweet smell of her shampoo.

"Let's get out of here" Karlie said after a moment and let go of Taylor, turning towards the door.

"Michael should be gone by now, we can just leave through the front exit. They will wonder why I'm alone" she giggled.

Taylor snorted.

"Oh boy … what did I get us into …" she said sheepishly.

When they left the café, all eyes indeed turned towards them, or better, to Karlie. They could see the confusion on everyone's faces, and Karlie did her best not to burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation. To her satisfaction, the paparazzi didn't take any more photos and started packing up.

Back on the street and out of sight from the café, Karlie managed to call a cab.

“Let’s get you home” she whispered towards where she knew Taylor was standing next to her, hoping to convey reassurance and comfort.

 

***

 

"Taylor?" Karlie asked as she carefully opened the door to Taylor's bedroom that had been left ajar.

"I'm here, I'm sitting on the bed" Taylor replied.

Karlie went inside the room and just stood there, staring in the general direction of where she assumed Taylor was.

"You … you're really invisible" she said, as if to convince herself.

She saw the covers moving on the bed.

"This is a bit scary" she added quietly.

Taylor laughed.

"Yeah … even more so when it's you who's invisible" she said drily.

"I have no idea what happened … I didn't even know I could be invisible for that long … it's been almost an hour" she added.

Karlie moved towards the bed and carefully sat down.

She jumped a little when she could feel Taylor's hand touching her arm.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" Taylor said.

"Can we cuddle for a moment? I'm not feeling well right now" she added.

Karlie just smiled at her as best as she could and lay down, then reached out her arms trying to comprehend where Taylor was. She could feel Taylor's body moving on top of her and the singer's arms wrapping around her torso, then her head resting on her chest. It was their usual cuddling position, but Karlie couldn't help but feel strange.

She gently rubbed Taylor's back.

"This is so strange" she said quietly.

"Has this ever happened to you before?" she asked.

"No" Taylor replied.

"Well, apart from the incident at junior high, but that lasted only like a minute" she then added.

Karlie hummed in response, deep in thought.

"You should call your mom. And the CA" she said after a while.

Taylor groaned.

"I've already brought them enough trouble. Can't we wait for a few more hours and see if it passes?" she said groggily.

"Taylor, this is serious. You're not an inconvenience to them. But fine, we can wait two more hours. If it's not back to normal by then, you should call them" Karlie replied, not wanting to argue.

"Ok" the singer gave in.

She cuddled closer to Karlie, who tightened her hold on her, wanting to give comfort. They stayed like this for a while, enjoying the presence of one another. Karlie felt Taylor's breathing become steadier and realized the singer had fallen asleep. She gave her a light kiss on her head. She felt strange, having Taylor in her arms, feeling her soft skin, inhaling her sweet smell, but not being able to see her. She couldn't even imagine how Taylor felt.

Eventually, Taylor woke up from her nap.

"Damn, I'm still invisible, right?" she asked sleepily.

"Yeah" Karlie said softly.

Taylor groaned and laid her head back on Karlie's chest. Then she moved to get up.

"Well, if no one can see me, I can at least change into something more comfortable and wipe the make-up off" she said half-jokingly.

Karlie only saw the sheets moving as the singer got off the bed. She sighed. Then she saw the door to Taylor's walk-in closet opening. A minute later a pair of sweat-pants and a t-shirt came into the room, hovering in the air. She couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, Taylor!" she managed to get out, gasping for air.

"This is so funny!"

"Wait, so you can see the clothes I'm carrying but not the ones I'm wearing?" she heard Taylor's voice from across the room.

Karlie stopped laughing abruptly.

"Oh … yeah, I guess?" she asked.

"Interesting …" Taylor replied.

"Too bad you can't see me right now, I'm in my underwear" she added and smirked.

Karlie laughed, but blushed nevertheless. Taylor still had that effect on her.

She could see the new clothes hovering in mid-air, then disappear. Simultaneously, the clothes Taylor had been wearing before appeared on the floor. Karlie took in a sharp breath.

"Oh, wow" Taylor said, in disbelief herself.

"Yeah, I forgot that was a thing."

"What do you mean you forgot?" Karlie asked.

"Oh, remember what Mrs Yanez said? Children with conjuring skills are taught how to use them, so obviously I was too, but I stopped attending the classes and summer camps at like age twelve. I never really used my skills in everyday life anyways …" she explained.

"So, you don't remember how to turn it back?" Karlie asked expectantly.

"No" Taylor shook her head, then she remembered Karlie couldn't see that.

"There's no special way to do it, you just have to … think it, kind of" she added.

"And I tried that in the bathroom at lunch."

Karlie just hummed in response.

"I'm going to the bathroom. Just telling you so you know where I am" Taylor announced and laughed drily.

"Sure" Karlie said nonchalantly, however in her head her thoughts were running a mile a minute.

 

***

 

“You should really call your mom” Karlie said when she saw the kitchen door open and a hovering Olivia come in.

She still didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or cry at the situation. The cats seemed unbothered once again – Taylor and Karlie supposed that they could still see the singer from the way they acted no different around her.

Karlie was sitting at the alcove in front of the kitchen window, drinking a cup of tea and eating the mochi she had bought earlier. The windows went out towards the backyard and the seat was comfortable with pillows on it. It was one of her favorite spots in the house. Meredith was sitting at the other end of the seat.

She could see Olivia being placed down at the kitchen island and then a cabinet being opened and a glass hovering out of it.

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know what to say though …” she heard Taylor’s voice from the other side of the room.

“She’s your mom. You don’t have to find the perfect words or anything. She will probably figure out something is wrong before you even say it” Karlie reassured Taylor.

She saw a water bottle being opened and water being poured into the glass, then the glass hovering towards her. She moved so Taylor would have room to sit next to her, causing Meredith to jump on the floor and leave the room.

“Hey, how did you know I was going towards you?” Taylor asked.

“I can see the glass of water you’re holding, dummy” Karlie responded and grinned.

“Oh, yeah right. I have no idea how long I would have to hold it for it to become invisible too?” Taylor said.

She put the glass down on the floor.

“Here, can you see my phone?” she asked.

“Nope” Karlie said.

Taylor just hummed in response. She still hadn’t figured out how her invisibility worked.

She called her mom, who almost immediately picked up.

“Hey mom” she said, feeling uneasy.

“Hey honey. How are you?” Andrea asked.

“Umm … I’m ok. I’m at home, with Karlie” she responded.

Her mom seemed to pick up on her uneasiness.

“What’s wrong? How was the interview this morning?” her concerned voice could be heard from the other end of the line.

“The interview was ok … I … yeah something happened while we were at lunch earlier today” Taylor said and took a deep breath.

“There’s no one else around who shouldn’t hear so I will skip all the _Code Black Cat_ stuff …”

Taylor’s mom took in a sharp breath.

“… but I somehow became invisible, and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Taylor!” her mom exclaimed appalled.

“What happened?”

Taylor told her everything that had happened that afternoon, and how Karlie had managed to get them home.

“Oh honey. Have you told someone from the CA yet?” her mom asked.

“No, will do that now … I wanted to call you first” Taylor stated.

“I’m coming to LA. I want to be there for you” Andrea responded.

“Thank you, mom. That would be great. Karlie is gonna leave early tomorrow morning …” Taylor started but stopped when she saw Karlie shake her head and mouth ‘no’.

“What do you mean?” she asked her girlfriend.

“I’m gonna cancel my flight. I will tell my professor that something important came up. I’m not gonna leave you like this” Karlie said determinedly.

Taylor smiled at her. Then she remembered Karlie couldn’t see that, and reached out to squeeze her hand. Karlie jumped at the unexpected contact, but then smiled in Taylor’s direction.

“Karlie is staying” Taylor said to her mom.

“I’m coming over nevertheless. I’m booking a flight right now, I can be there in the afternoon tomorrow” Andrea announced.

“Oh no!” Taylor said suddenly.

“I just remembered I have a photoshoot tomorrow … what am I gonna do …”

“Cancel it. Say you’re sick” her mom responded.

“And call someone from the CA and your uncle Patrick as well. They will know what to do” she added.

They hung up shortly afterwards, and Taylor proceeded to make more phone calls. It hit her that this was reality and an actual problem she had to deal with now, and she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about her absurd situation.


	4. Four

When Karlie came back from her morning run, she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water before she’d head into the shower.

“Good morning!” she heard Taylor’s voice from the room and jumped in surprise.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” Taylor giggled.

Karlie put her hand on her chest to calm down her rapidly beating heart.

“Geez, Taylor. I can’t see you, remember? And besides I would’ve been surprised to see you up at this hour, anyways” she joked and carefully went into the direction she supposed Taylor was at.

“I’m sitting at the kitchen island, on the bar stool on the side of the counter closest to the window” Taylor instructed and giggled again.

She thought that if she couldn’t change her situation, she might as well have fun with it.

Karlie reached the bar stool and held out her hand, and Taylor grabbed it and pulled the taller girl in for a kiss.

“Morning” Karlie mumbled in response.

“And to get back to your comment” Taylor said between light kisses.

“I am very capable of getting up early. I just woke up early yesterday. And this morning I couldn’t sleep anymore and I thought I should enjoy my invisibility while I can” she continued and grinned.

Karlie rolled her eyes.

“Alright. And what do you think you will do to ‘enjoy’ your invisibility? Your mom and the CA member are coming over later today, right?” she asked.

“Yeah. And before that, I’m gonna go out” Taylor stated.

“What?” Karlie exclaimed.

“Isn’t that dange-“

“No, not if no one can see me” Taylor interrupted her and thumped her fingers on Karlie’s hips excitedly.

“Stop that, I’m ticklish” Karlie laughed and pulled away, but was held in place by two invisible hands.

“Don’t distract me, Taylor” Karlie said in faked annoyance.

“Please don’t go out. At least let’s go together? What if you become visible while you’re in public alone?” she asked, concern in her voice.

“Karlie, it’s gonna be fine. If I didn’t turn back to normal by now it’s very unlikely it’s just gonna happen out of the blue. And if it does, I’m gonna give the media one hell of a news story” she laughed.

“You stay here and study. Don’t worry about me” she said more seriously.

Karlie just sighed. She knew how stubborn Taylor was and that it would be in vain to try and convince her otherwise. In the back of her mind, Karlie nevertheless could understand her desire to go out alone. It wasn’t something she got to do a lot, especially not in LA. She wondered if the singer’s subconscious might have caused her invisibility, but she was no expert on these things, so she decided not to say anything.

She kissed Taylor again, however only meeting her cheeks, and then went to the sink to get water.

“I’m taking a shower” she announced then and went upstairs.

Taylor just hummed in response.

When Karlie was done and checked her phone she had left on the nightstand, she saw she had a text from her best friend Derek and a notification from Instagram that Taylor had posted a picture. She opened the Instagram notification first and laughed when she saw what Taylor had uploaded. It was a picture of Meredith sitting on the floor in the living room, scowling towards the camera, and Taylor had captioned it ‘She doesn’t show it, but Mere is very happy about the first week album sales of 1989! Thank you to everyone who is listening to it! xo’.

Karlie suddenly felt weird that Taylor could post such a simple thing on social media, and yet no one knew what was really happening. That Meredith had been scowling at her invisible human and that Taylor had taken the photo with her invisible phone. She shuddered, and made her way downstairs to join Taylor again.

“I’m here!” Taylor announced when Karlie came into the kitchen.

A Tracy Chapman song was playing on the CD player in the living room, the music faintly reaching the kitchen, and sunlight was streaming into the room through the blinds.

Karlie looked around wondering where the voice was coming from and then spotted a coffee mug hovering in the air at the alcove. She giggled and went to sit next to Taylor.

“I made you coffee too” Taylor said and a second mug hovered towards Karlie, who carefully took it.

“Thank you” she said and put her feet up on the seat.

Then she read Derek’s text. He was asking why she wasn’t coming back to New York and if everything was ok, and had also attached screenshots of paparazzi photos of Karlie and Taylor from the day before.

 

**Derek**

What is it with you lesbians and matching outfits? You’re ridiculous!

_9:23 am_

JK, you’re adorable. I wanna hang out with Taylor again!

_9:23 am_

And you, too … :P

_9:24 am_

Karlie laughed and showed the texts to Taylor.

“I wanna hang out with him too” she laughed.

“I haven’t seen any of your friends in a while” she added.

“I’m so busy though …”

“Hey, it’s ok” Karlie said softly, sensing that something was off.

“We will find the time. And right now, you have something else to focus on” she added and squeezed Taylor’s hand.

“Yeah …” Taylor said.

“I cancelled everything for the rest of the week. I just hope there won’t be any rumors …” she said weakly.

“Don’t worry. It’s just rumors. And as Mrs Yanez would say, better to have rumors about something that is completely wrong than have rumors about your conjuring skills again” Karlie tried to reassure her.

“Yeah, you’re right. I will try not to think too much” Taylor replied and leaned her head on Karlie’s shoulder.

They enjoyed each other’s presence and the relative quiet of the late morning before Karlie would have to study and Taylor would have two visitors in the afternoon.

 

***

 

Taylor nervously glanced to her left and right as she walked down the sidewalk away from her house, but there was only an elderly man on the other side of the road who didn't seem to notice her.

 _I really am invisible_ , she thought to herself, still in awe of the phenomenon.

She couldn't remember the last time she had walked somewhere entirely on her own, especially in LA.

The sun was shining and there were only a few small clouds in the sky, and Taylor was wearing comfortable workout clothes and a small backpack instead of her usual fancy purse. She stopped walking to admire the flowers in one of her neighbor's front yard and smiled widely to herself.

When she reached the big crossroad further down the road after a while, she wondered how to best get around, not wanting to walk the entire way. Then she got an idea.

After a few minutes of standing there and looking around, she saw a middle-aged man coming out of a barber shop down the street and stop a taxi. She quickly made her way over to him while he was talking to the driver through the window. The man then opened the door on the right side of the vehicle, and Taylor quickly opened the door on the left side, making them open almost in sync.

"Oh, you have automatic doors? That's funny" the man said to the driver, who looked at him confused through the rearview mirror, but didn't say anything.

Taylor did her best to not giggle out loud, and quickly closed the door at the same time as the man. The man gave the driver the address of a hotel Taylor didn't know, but from the name of the street thought it would be close enough to where she wanted to go.

They drove off, and she stayed as quiet as possible, not wanting to accidentally reveal herself. The two men didn't talk much, and the radio played at a medium volume. After two miles or so a familiar song started playing, and out of habit Taylor almost started singing along. _"W_ _hen the lights turned down, they don't know what they heard …"_. She stopped herself at the last moment and did her best not to squeal in surprise. She carefully glanced at the driver, but he didn't seem to have noticed, too focused on the traffic. She very slowly let out the breath she had been holding.

They arrived shortly after at their destination, and Taylor got out of the vehicle quickly, not wanting to get caught in the last possible minute. The driver once again looked confused at the door that opened and closed automatically, but didn't say anything. _Ok, I will choose some other form of transportation for the way home, that was fun, but stressful,_ Taylor thought as she walked down the sidewalk, careful not to bump into people. She had been right about the hotel's location, as close by there was her destination: the Hollywood and Highland Shopping Center.

A wide grin appeared on her face as she walked across the crosswalk towards the street corner where the mall was located. Had she ever come here alone? She couldn't remember. She hadn't given too much thought about how she would actually pay for things or try them on without being noticed, but she didn't care. She didn't have to buy anything. All she wanted was to feel free and have fun.

Carefully navigating through the people, she walked by the shops, trying to decide where to go first. It wasn't crowded, for which she was thankful. _This is so awesome_ , she kept thinking to herself.

After a while something caught her eye – it was a poster of her album, hanging in the window of a record store. She smiled to herself and approached the shop. When she reached the automatic door, she almost ran into it. _Oh, right,_ she thought. If people couldn't see her, apparently the door's presence detector couldn't either. She giggled. A few moments later two men exited the store and she took the opportunity to sneak inside. Once inside the store, she nervously glanced around, but then relaxed again. _Yep, still invisible_.

The shelf where her newest CDs were sold wasn't hard to overlook, as there was another giant poster in front of it and the CDs took up multiple rows.

She noticed a group of three teenage girls standing in front of it talking animatedly as she made her way towards it.

_I have an idea …_


	5. Five

“You did _what_?” Karlie nearly screamed and put her hands over her face.

 Taylor laughed at her reaction. 

“Calm down. It was funny. And as you can see I didn’t get caught” she giggled. 

Karlie exhaled loudly and dramatically. 

“Come on” Taylor tried again and poked her girlfriend into her side. Karlie jumped in surprise at the (literally) unforeseen contact. 

“Stop doing that!” she yelped. “You’re having way too much fun with this absurd situation.” 

“Oh come on!” Taylor defended herself. “The girls were so nice. I wanted to do something nice for them.” 

Karlie sighed again. “Oh and also, your security left about thirty minutes ago to pick up your mum from the airport. But considering LA traffic at this hour, they will take a while there and back” she changed the topic to the matters at hand.

 “Oh yeah, almost forgot about that” Taylor replied. 

“And the CA member should be here anytime soon as well” Karlie added. 

“You sound like my manager” Taylor laughed. 

Karlie just groaned in response. 

“Come on, let’s have a cup of coffee in the kitchen while we wait” Taylor suggested. 

“Sure” Karlie said and followed the singer into the next room. 

They hung out in the kitchen and talked. Meanwhile Taylor got a text from both her mum and the CA member that each of them were on their way. She took a deep breath.

 “You got this” Karlie tried to reassure her girlfriend. “Just take this seriously. Please.” she added. 

“Yeah” Taylor mumbled in response.

 

Soon enough, they heard a car pull up in the driveway. It was Andrea.

Karlie opened the door for her as Taylor’s security guard had no clue about Taylor’s situation. She figured that he knew something was up as Taylor’s mum had come there so spontaneously, but he stayed professional and didn’t ask about the circumstances. 

“It’s so good to see you, Karlie!” Andrea said excitedly as they entered the house. “How’s senior year going? How are your classes? How are your sisters?” 

Karlie laughed, appreciating the woman’s interest in her life.

“It’s all good. I should be in class like right now, but, yeah …” she grinned.

“Hi mom!” a voice came from right next to them, startling the two.

“God, Taylor, you scared me” Andrea said. “Where are you?”

“I’m here! I’m going to hug you now!” Taylor announced and a second later Andrea could feel her daughter’s arms around her. 

“Hey honey” she said softly.

“This is weird … I thought I was prepared but … oh God” she added, tearing up.

“Shh, it’s ok mom, we will find a way” Taylor tried to sooth her.

Karlie went into the kitchen to give them space.

“How are you feeling?” Andrea asked.

“I’m good, mom. I’m almost used to it by now, even. It’s nice to not have to wear make-up when going out” she joked to lighten the mood again. 

“You went outside?” Andrea asked. “But what if the invisibility suddenly got reversed and someone saw you? You didn’t go alone right?” 

“Yeah, about that …” Taylor said and went towards the kitchen, tugging her mom’s arm to signal where she was going.

 “Tell her where you went today” Karlie said amused, leaning back on the seat at the alcove.

“Taylor …” Andrea warned.

“It wasn’t anything bad, I promise!” Taylor defended herself. “I just went to the mall and bought my album for a few girls at the record store. They didn’t know I was there, obviously. They just, ugh, suddenly had money to buy the CD and-“ 

“Taylor!” Andrea exclaimed, but couldn’t help a grin from spreading across her face. She didn’t add anything, just shook her head in disbelief. 

“How did you get there?” she asked after a moment.

“Umm … taxi and bus. That was fun. I haven’t used public transport in ages” Taylor laughed.

Karlie felt her heartstrings being pulled at this statement. It was such a simple everyday thing for her and almost everyone else, but for Taylor it took invisibility to be able to just ride the bus in peace. Once again she wondered about the cause of Taylor’s condition. 

“Alright, well, I hope we can find a way to deal with this today” Andrea concluded.

 Just then Taylor’s phone rang. It was one of her security guards, announcing a visitor. Taylor told them to let the person into the driveway. A few moments later, the doorbell rang, and Andrea went to open it while Taylor and Karlie stayed back.

 “I’m nervous” Taylor whispered, but her mom and the visitor walked into the room before Karlie could respond.

“Hello, I am Nevada Smith, a member of the CA of California” they introduced themselves and shook Karlie’s hand.

 “Please just call me Nevada.”

 “It’s nice to meet you” Karlie responded nervously. 

The person was quite tall, almost Karlie’s height, with short black hair and glasses. They were wearing comfortable work-out clothes. 

Nevada then turned to where Taylor was standing and reached out their hand. Everyone else in the room took in a sharp breath.

 “You can see me?” Taylor said in surprise.

 The CA member laughed. 

“No, but I can see a faint shimmer where you are, like a glow almost, or a silhouette” they explained.

 “Oh wow” Karlie said intrigued.

 “So, I am here to help you with your problem” Nevada dove right into the topic. 

“Oh, yeah” Taylor said. “Why don’t we take a seat in the living room and I will explain my situation?” she suggested. 

“Would you like something to drink?” she added, doing her best to be a good host to the new visitor.

 “Oh, just a glass of water” Nevada said and made their way into the living room, Andrea following. Olivia appeared in the doorway, curious about the stranger, and Taylor picked her up on her way to the couch.

 

Once everyone was comfortable, Taylor explained what had happened, Nevada asking for details every now and then. For Andrea it was the first time she heard the full story as well, and the concern on her face grew with each minute.

 After Taylor had finished, there was a short silence in the room.

 “Alright, so I think you can already guess that what you did today was not appropriate and potentially dangerous not only for you, but the CA as a whole” Nevada started.

 “I can understand your motivation behind it, given your celebrity status, but that doesn’t make it any better. I obviously have heard about the events from last year, and on behalf of the CA I must ask you to be more cautious and take this situation seriously.”

 “Yeah” Taylor said sheepishly. She did her best not to tear up. She felt like a child being scolded by her teacher. It confused her that Nevada did not seem fazed at all by being in her house as well.

 “I’m good friends with Bev, Mrs Yanez, I mean, as she’s originally from California, which is why she asked me to come here today. But I also have some special skills regarding invisibility. Not every person with conjuring skills can see you the way I do, you know?”

 Taylor shook her head. 

“Have you tried taking a picture and see what you can see on the photo?” Nevada continued.

Andrea’s and Karlie’s eyes went wide. They hadn’t even thought about that.

 “No” Taylor answered and nervously stroked Olivia’s soft fur, the kitten’s presence calming her.

 “Well, no one should see anything on it except for the people who can see your silhouette anyways, like me” Nevada reassured them. “Nevertheless, we should try this later, just to make sure, because of paparazzi” they added.

 “Ok” Taylor simply said. She appreciated that the CA member was so straight-forward and factual about everything. It made them seem less intimidating, and she felt like she was in good hands. 

“So, you want to go to NYC, right?” Nevada asked. 

“Yeah” Taylor replied.

 “Alright. I came up with a plan how to get you there, with your private plane. Will your mother and girlfriend come with you?”

 Taylor took in a sharp breath.

 “How do you kn-“ 

Nevada laughed.

 “Irrelevant.”

 Karlie couldn’t help but grin, and felt a light slap on her thigh from Taylor who was sitting next to her.

 “Oh boy. I’m gonna need you to sign an NDA now” Taylor groaned.

 Nevada laughed again.

 “That’s fine with me. I figured you use those” they simply stated.

 Andrea just looked between them in amusement, staying out of the conversation.

 “Anyways. Is there anyone else on the plane with you usually?”

 “Yeah, well, the pilot, obviously, and security” Taylor replied, trying to figure out what the other person was getting at.

 “Alright. What I was thinking was that I am going to take your shape on the way to and from the airport so you can get there, and we fly to NYC together. I don’t know about the inside of the plane yet but-“

 “Excuse me, but you what??” Taylor interrupted.

 “You can take other people’s shapes?” 

“Yeah” Nevada laughed.

 “Oh yeah, right, no big deal, happens all the time” Taylor said drily, admiring the person’s unfazed attitude towards everything.

 Karlie and Andrea just sat there wide-eyed. Karlie had known that some people, like her late grandma, could shapeshift into small objects and even small animals, but _people_? She felt curious about how all of this would go down.

 “Ok, so, are you down?” Nevada continued. 

“I mean, what other choice do I have, really?” Taylor asked. “I can’t possibly let my security and publicist in on this. So yeah, I’m all ears.” 

Nevada nodded and started to explain the details of their plan. The three others listened in amazement, and spent the rest of the day arranging the flight, contacting Beverly and other CA members on the East Coast, and making other preparations. 

Taylor did not sleep well that night, her thoughts filled with anxiety and the realization of the seriousness of the situation. She was grateful to have Karlie by her side and hoped that everything would return back to normal soon.


	6. Six

Taylor awoke from the pilot’s voice sounding through the intercom, instructing the passengers to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts as they were close to landing. When she opened her eyes, she startled from seeing herself sitting in the seat opposite to her, but then she remembered everything that had happened in the previous days.

 _I can’t believe we’re really doing this_ , she thought to herself and gently squeezed Karlie’s hand to let the girl sitting next to know she was awake. Karlie turned her head towards her and smiled.

“Miss Swift, what are your plans after we arrive in New York? Where would you like to go?” one of Taylor’s security guards approached who he thought was Taylor before returning to his seat.

“We’re going straight to my apartment” Nevada answered.

“Alright, as you wish.”

Taylor had not gotten used to seeing herself from a different person’s perspective, and she hoped she’d never have to after today. Nevada had not exaggerated their shape-shifting skills; it was uncanny. Their appearance completely matched Taylor’s, and the night before they had watched interviews of Taylor for Nevada to copy her mannerisms. Nevertheless they had agreed for Nevada-Taylor to talk as little as possible on their way from LA to NYC. It had all gone as planned, so far at least. Taylor knew she wouldn’t be able to breathe out until they arrived at her house, however.

“You’re shaking. Calm down. It’s gonna be fine, I promise” Karlie whispered towards her as quietly as possible.

Taylor didn’t respond, but squeezed Karlie’s hand again, appreciating her comforting words.

The private plane landed on an area separate from the commercial flights, and a few minutes later everyone was able to disembark. Andrea went first, then Taylor, then Nevada-Taylor, Karlie and the security guard.

As they were walking towards the airport building, Taylor could feel her anxiety rise in her chest and kept looking back to Nevada. The CA member was nothing but professional, as if they did this every day. Taylor briefly wondered how often they did such impersonations.

“Miss Swift, your car is waiting for you in the parking lot. I hear that rumor is ahead of us and there are fans waiting for you inside the building. Would you like to stop for them?” Michael, the security guard, approached Nevada.

“Thank you, but no, I’m afraid I’m not feeling well, I want to go home” Nevada declined politely.

Taylor felt like watching a video or a hologram of herself. She shuddered once again. She felt bad having to let her fans down, but they just couldn’t risk it.

They made it to the SUV without any accidents, and when they exited the airport’s parking lot, Taylor exhaled deeply.

_Almost there._

After a while, she noticed Nevada-Taylor shaking and seeming blurred. Karlie had noticed too, given her shocked facial expression.

“Oh my god …” Karlie whispered.

It was only the four of them in the back of the car, the front seats divided by glass, so the driver and security guard in the front would be able to see them if they turned around, but not hear them given average volume.

Taylor panicked and couldn’t look away from the two men in the front, scared they might turn around.

Andrea had noticed too.

“What is happening?” she asked with wide eyes.

“It’s been a couple of hours … I’m starting to get tired …” Nevada replied, their voice unstable.

“Oh God …” Taylor said.

“Is there anything we can do?” Karlie asked.

“No … how long do we still have to drive?” Nevada asked.

“About 45 minutes” Andrea replied.

“Do you think I could take a nap? I need to be awake in order to keep this form, but I could be invisible while I sleep. It would take less energy” they explained.

“But what if one of the men turn around?” Taylor asked anxiously. In that moment she was extra thankful for the tinted windows on the sides that kept nosy glances out.

“They probably won’t unless you knock on the glass. And they won’t notice from one quick glance into the rearview mirror” Nevada tried to reassure the others.

“Well, I don’t think we have any other choice” Andrea said matter-of-factly.

“We will wake you up shortly before we get there” she added and nodded at Nevada.

Taylor groaned.

“I have a bad feeling about this …” she said.

Nevada-Taylor suddenly became invisible right in front of their eyes, and the others couldn’t help but flinch for a second.

“Please trust me. This is not my first time doing this. It will be alright” Nevada’s voice could be heard from their seat.

They drove the rest of the way in silence.

 

***

 

As soon as they had closed the door behind them and put the cat-carriers down, everyone’s mood drastically changed for the better.

Taylor hugged her mum, who jumped in surprise at the unexpected contact, but then laughed along. Nevada slowly turned back into their usual self, their silhouette shimmering. Karlie stared at the process with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. When Nevada fully appeared, they looked tired, but had a smug grin on their face.

“Told you we’d make it!” Nevada said proudly.

“Thank you so much!” Taylor’s thankful voice could be heard.

“You handled everything so well, especially the last part. Thank you so much for powering through it. You look exhausted. Please feel at home here, you can take a nap in one of my guest rooms” she added.

“Thank you, Taylor” Nevada said and smiled genuinely.

After spending the last 24 hours with them, Karlie wondered how they had ever come across as intimidating. Nevada was a genuinely nice and caring person, and Karlie shared Taylor’s sentiment about their help.

The student leaned down to open the cat-carriers as Meredith was already complaining about being held in there, and sure enough the cat dashed across the room as soon as she was released. Olivia, to no one’s surprise, had fallen asleep and Karlie carefully took her out.

“Look babe, look how peacefully she’s sleeping!” she cooed and turned towards where she assumed Taylor was.

“Aww, little Dibbles” Taylor’s voice sounded right next to her, and Karlie could see on the kitten’s fur that Taylor was petting her.

In the meantime, Andrea busied herself with the rest of their luggage, and Nevada had sat down on the couch and checked their phone.

“So, what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Taylor asked to no one in particular after a few moments.

“I already contacted my publicist and manager this morning to call off every appointment until Sunday, so I’m free all day” she added drily.

“Not that I could go out anyways.”

Karlie rolled her eyes. She was just glad to have made it back to NYC without trouble and to have Taylor be her usual self again and not a ball of anxiety. Well, almost her usual self.

“When does Bev, I mean Mrs Yanez, come over again?” Nevada asked from the couch.

“Tomorrow morning, she couldn’t make it today” Taylor explained.

“How long can you stay?” she added towards the conjurer.

“However long you want me to. I work from home and I can answer e-mails from here as well, so it’s not a big deal that I’m away from home for a few days. My parents are watching my dog. Besides, I haven’t been to New York in a while” they grinned.

“Alright, thank you” Taylor said. “So I would like you to be here tomorrow when Mrs Yanez comes here. We can talk about your flight back and everything later” she added.

“Sounds good” Nevada nodded and turned their attention back to their phone.

“Can we order something to eat? I’m starving” Taylor changed the topic, again addressing no one in particular.

“Good idea! How about sushi?” Karlie suggested but was met with a disapproving look by Andrea and, even though she couldn’t see it, Taylor.

“No, Karlie. Pizza?” the singer asked.

“I’ll only get salad then” Karlie shrugged.

“God, you’re so annoying” Taylor groaned jokingly.

“Mum?”

“I’ll have a salad, too, but you can order a pizza, honey” Andrea replied and grinned.

“Nevada?” Taylor asked hopefully.

Nevada looked up, surprised to be included in the decision-making process.

“Oh, I’ll have a pizza too” they said. “Margherita is fine.”

“Ha!” Taylor said triumphantly.

She picked up their favorite pizza place’s flyer for the phone number and then went around the house in search for the phone. Andrea offered Nevada an apartment tour, and Karlie took her luggage upstairs.

When she reached the master bedroom and opened the door, she paused in the doorframe for a moment, taking in the familiarity of the room. Every once in a while it struck her that this was her real life and her normal, when one and a half years ago even she would have never imagined to even get to meet or talk to Taylor. She constantly had to remind herself that Taylor, her girlfriend, was also Taylor Swift, the international popstar. When it was just the two of them, their relationship felt so natural and normal. The past week with Taylor’s album release had been a harsh reminder of the reality of their relationship.

She snapped out of it, walked into the room and started unpacking a few of her clothes. She caught a glimpse of the framed picture on the nightstand and smiled. It was from their road trip to Big Sur for their one year anniversary earlier this year. They were both wearing black turtlenecks, and Karlie was kissing Taylor’s cheek from behind her, embracing her. It was one of Karlie’s favorite photos of them.

She looked up to see Olivia coming into the room and picked the kitten up and sat down on the bed. A few moments later she heard Taylor’s footsteps and there was a soft knock on the doorframe.

“It’s me” Taylor’s voice sounded from the door.

“I guessed so, since I would be able to see the other people in this house” Karlie said sarcastically.

“Shut up” Taylor just said, and Karlie could feel her sitting down beside her, the sheets moving ever so slightly.

Karlie turned her face towards Taylor, who took the opportunity to give her a light kiss.

“Are you ok?” she asked the singer after a few moments.

“Yeah, just exhausted” Taylor answered truthfully.

Olivia started squirming on Karlie’s lap and the girl let her down, and the cat dashed out of the room again.

“I ordered the pizza and salads, they should be here in about 30 minutes” Taylor added.

“Awesome!” Karlie smiled.

Taylor nuzzled her head into Karlie’s shoulder, and Karlie started playing with her hair.

“I’m still not completely used to your shorter hair now” she laughed quietly. Taylor just hummed in response.

“Do you have class tomorrow?” she asked.

“Yeah, I will have to leave early to get my stuff from my apartment and everything. But I will be back as soon as I can, I promise” Karlie explained softly.

“Don’t worry. We will be able to figure this out. We made it here. Your mum is here. And we have the help of the CA. We will figure it out” she added, gently caressing Taylor’s head.

“Yeah” Taylor simply replied, sounding unsure.

“What about the twins?” she asked then.

“What about them?”

“I kinda want to know what they think about it. Did you tell them yet?”

“No” Karlie answered truthfully. “Should I?”

“Yeah, that would be great. Maybe we can FaceTime, find out if they can see me the way Nevada can. I’m just curious.”

“Ok, I will text them later” Karlie promised.

“But for now, no more thinking, ok? Let’s have a nice afternoon, eat pizza and then go to sleep early tonight.”

“Sounds good” Taylor replied sleepily.

They stayed like that until their food arrived. The next day would, hopefully, bring them some new insights.


	7. Seven

Taylor had done quite a good job of calming herself down over the course of the morning, but when the doorbell rang and Mrs Yanez came into her apartment a little after 10 am, all of her anxiety came rushing back.

“Mum, can you open the door? I don’t want to scare her” she begged Andrea in a higher-pitched voice than usual.

Nevada, who was sitting on the couch opposite to Taylor, put their coffee mug down and laughed.

“Don’t worry, you can’t scare Bev that easily. And trust me, she has seen everything with those kids at the CA camps. And I mean _everything_ ” they grinned.

“That one time when we were both supervisors one of the kids-“ they started, but were cut off. In fact, they kept talking, but no sound came out of their mouth.

Taylor stared at Nevada in shock and disbelief, and then turned towards the door where her mum and Mrs Yanez were coming in.

Mrs Yanez giggled.

“Stop telling that story, Nev” she scolded the other conjurer playfully and then gave a quick nod in their direction.

“Good to see you too!” Nevada laughed in fake-annoyance after they had regained their voice. They got up to greet their old friend.

Taylor still hadn’t processed what had happened, however Andrea seemed to not have noticed anything.

After hugging and exchanging greetings with Nevada, Mrs Yanez turned to where Taylor was sitting and approached her.

“Miss Swift, it’s been a while! I’m happy to see you again, even though I can’t actually see you under these circumstances …” she trailed off and grinned.

Taylor stood up and shook her hand.

“You can see my silhouette too?” she asked, to which Mrs Yanez simply nodded.

“Oh, and please, can you call me Taylor? This is a way less formal environment than the last time, and it feels kinda awkward otherwise …” Taylor added.

“Of course, Taylor. I’m Beverly” the tall, blonde woman smiled warmly.

They all sat down, and Beverly started looking around the room.

“You have a very nice place here, Taylor” she complimented the singer.

“Thank you” Taylor could feel the blood rising to her cheeks, thankful that no one could see it. She still got nervous when new people came into her house for the first time. She nervously bounced her leg, unsure of how to start the conversation.

Andrea came to her rescue.

“Would you like to drink something, Beverly?” she asked politely.

“Oh, a cup of coffee would be great. It’s been so cold outside lately, I haven’t gotten used to it yet” Beverly answered with a genuine smile.

While Andrea went to the kitchen to make coffee, the three others made small-talk, catching up with each other. Taylor could tell from the way Nevada and Beverly interacted that they were indeed good friends. It reminded her of herself and her closest friends Abigail and Selena. She felt a pang in her heart – she had had to lie to all her friends, telling them she was simply sick with a cold at home, and having to decline them paying her a visit.

She sighed audibly.

“It’s going to be alright, Taylor. I promise. We will find a way” Beverly smiled at her reassuringly, and Nevada nodded in agreement.

Taylor wasn’t sure if it was just the woman’s intuition, or if she could read her mind. She decided to ask her should the opportunity present itself.

After Andrea joined them again, they filled Beverly in on the details and talked about possible causes and solutions to Taylor’s condition.

“So you were very stressed right before you became invisible?” Beverly asked to confirm, all the while writing notes into her phone.

“Yes” Taylor simply said.

“And I felt dizzy.”

“Can you reiterate what you said about your incident when you were a junior high school student that you mentioned at our meeting last year?” Beverly asked.

“Oh, yeah. My bullies surrounded me at the school yard and I was so stressed and anxious that I accidentally became invisible, I hadn’t even known I could do that. It only lasted a minute or so, though, because I took the opportunity and ran away from them, and no one believed them afterwards” Taylor laughed drily.

“That’s interesting. I thought that at that age you would have figured out all your skills” Nevada stated.

“I _know_!” Taylor exclaimed, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“We’ve been through this topic more than enough times” she added, a little more calm after taking a deep breath.

“It is what it is now” Beverly said reconciliatory. She gave Nevada a sharp look that said _do not bring this up again_.

Andrea just looked between everyone, observing their statements and emotions.

Beverly took the last sip from her coffee mug before continuing.

“So I think this is another stress-related symptom. Just like you can get a stomach ache or other physical symptoms, this is your body’s response. I will look up more on involuntary invisibility in a second.”

“You really were stressed, honey, huh?” Andrea said softly, reaching out to where she knew Taylor was sitting.

“You should give yourself more time off.”

Taylor sighed.

“This is literally such an inconvenient time right now” she groaned.

Nevada laughed.

“I don’t think there is really a convenient time for involuntary invisibility.”

Andrea grinned at this, and Taylor had to admit to herself that the conjurer was right.

She intently looked at Beverly, who had not said anything in response and was sitting there with her eyes closed, the palms of her hands upwards in her lap, mumbling something. She thought she had seen this procedure before, and the next moment she knew why.

A small but thick book appeared in Beverly’s hands, and the woman opened her eyes again. It was the CA’s book of rules, skills and membership lists that they had shown her at their meeting the previous year as well.

Andrea had the same expression of disbelief on her face as Taylor had had the first time she saw it happen, but she didn’t say anything. Beverly quickly scanned through the pages until she found what she had been looking for. She took a few moments to read the text, while the others looked at her expectantly.

“Hmm. It doesn’t really say anything we don’t already know. You did the photo experiment in LA already, right?” she asked then.

“Yeah. I could see Taylor’s silhouette in the photos, Karlie couldn’t. Just like in real life. The cats seem to not notice a difference, though. They’re not scared and approach her just like always” Nevada explained.

Beverly just hummed in response.

“Oh, and we looked at the paparazzi photos from the airport when we came here” Nevada added.

“There were only a few, but you couldn’t see Taylor. The photographers focused on me” they laughed.

“I’m sure you loved it” Beverly joked back, but then turned towards the book again and to the matters at hand.

“Ok, so this just says that involuntary invisibility will go away on its own after a while. This can be after a few minutes and can take up to days or even weeks.”

“ _Weeks_?” Taylor exclaimed.

“I can’t – I have things to do!”

Andrea rubbed her daughter’s shoulder reassuringly.

“You don’t know how long it will last, it says it _can_ last that long. It’s only the third day right now” she said.

“Exactly” Beverly agreed.

“This book lists two specialists on invisibility from the global CA community, but one is in Indonesia and one in Poland. Both not exactly around the corner. But I will ask Mike – sorry, Mr Edwards, if you remember him, he is the chairman of the CA here in New York – to contact one or both, he’s more active in this regard than I am. Should things not return to normal after, let’s say, two weeks we should consider flying one of the specialists in” she continued.

Taylor breathed out audibly.

 _And again I’m making a mess and being a big nuisance for everyone in the CA_ , she thought to herself.

“It’s ok, Taylor. We are here to help you” Beverly reassured her with a smile.

Again Taylor wasn’t sure if the woman had read her thoughts or just had really good intuition.

“I’m so sorry. I will of course cover any expenses myself. I would be happy to get some advice from a specialist” she said.

“Of course” Beverly reiterated.

“Thank you so much” Andrea said genuinely.

The four of them discussed what their next steps would be. They would contact other CA members and ask for more opinions. Beverly would be in New York for a week more until she would have to return to Missouri. Nevada decided to stay at a hotel in the city for two more days to meet friends before going back to LA. Taylor and Andrea said their goodbyes and gratitude to Nevada and agreed to meet Beverly again in the following days.

After the two had left, Taylor and Andrea decided to spend some quality mother-daughter time, as far as that was possible under the circumstances.

 

***

 

The door opened and Karlie stepped into the apartment. She immediately felt Taylor’s arms around her and saw the door closing behind her. Even though she couldn’t see her, she hugged her girlfriend back tightly.

She wanted to ask Taylor how her day had been, but was pulled into a deep kiss. The singer lightly shoved her backwards until Karlie’s back touched the door.

“I missed you today” Taylor whispered between kisses, caressing Karlie’s cheek.

Karlie simply hummed in response, bringing their lips together again. Their hands were roaming over each other’s bodies, eager for contact. Karlie did her best to keep her eyes closed to forget about the fact that she couldn’t actually see her girlfriend _. From an outside perspective it must look pretty weird,_ she thought.

They hadn’t had much time for themselves within the past two days, and Taylor wanted to make the most of it.

“My mum is out shopping and just left like 20 minutes ago, so she’s not coming back anytime soon” she informed Karlie, her hands never stopped wandering over the taller girl’s muscular body and under her clothes.

Karlie opened her eyes, and a more serious expression appeared on her face.

“I don’t know if … this feels a little weird … are you sure …” she trailed off, not knowing how to say what she wanted to say.

Taylor, however, understood her concerns.

“I know. It’s just as weird for me as it is for you. But still … we don’t know how long this will last” she sighed and gave Karlie another quick kiss on the lips.

“And I don’t know how long I can go without you …” she added and Karlie could feel Taylor’s grip on her waist tighten in a nervous manner.

She grabbed her hands, wishing she could look into Taylor’s eyes to see her expression.

“If it’s alright with you, it’s alright with me” she said softly and started kissing Taylor again.

“I trust you.”

Karlie took off her coat and pushed her bag away from the door while being led upstairs by Taylor.

 

***

 

“So they don’t really know what to do either?” Karlie asked after Taylor had told her all about her conversation earlier that day.

They were hanging out in the living room, wearing comfortable clothes after having showered, hair still damp. The cats were lounging around on the couch, still unfazed by the invisibility of their human.

“No, we’re just going to wait for now” Taylor replied, frustration in her voice.

“But I had a lengthy phone conversation with Tree. I obviously still can’t tell her what’s really going on, so I told her I was sick and needed to stay home. She told me to do the interviews I cancelled this week over the phone and to send them press photos instead of doing a photoshoot, so I will do that tomorrow. She also said there were rumors about my health and everything and asked for a statement from me that she could put out there. I’m gonna need to brainstorm something for that tomorrow as well” she explained.

Karlie let out a deep sigh.

“That sucks. But at least Tree is being professional and not nosy about this. You’re gonna make the best out of this situation, I’m sure” she tried to reassure the singer.

“Thank you” Taylor said softly.

“Mum and I also talked to my family, that is dad, Austin and uncle Patrick. I already talked to Patrick about it, but he says he doesn’t know what to do either, and said he went on a business trip yesterday and will be there for a week, so he doesn’t really have the time to research this and help me the way he did last year” she added and sighed.

“But I mean, what could he do. I feel like I already got half of the CA involved in this” Taylor said drily.

“He helped you and us a great deal last year, and I feel like we’re in good hands with Mrs Yanez, Beverly, I mean” Karlie said, not used to using the conjurer’s fist name yet as Taylor had told her to.

“Yeah” Taylor simply said.

“Oh” Karlie started, as if remembering something just now.

“Speaking of family, I talked to the twins” she said excitedly.

“What did they say?”

“I told them what had happened, and they thought it was funny how you always manage to get in trouble like this. But anyways, they said they were spontaneously planning a weekend trip somewhere for this weekend with two of their friends, and said they could ask if they wanted to go to NYC, so they could visit us” Karlie explained.

“Don’t they have finals to study for?” Taylor asked drily.

Karlie laughed in response.

“That’s what I said too. But they said they just wanted to spend some time away from college, and will study afterwards. They’re old enough to decide things by now” she added and shrugged.

“Oh, yeah, makes sense” Taylor replied.

“Have they gotten back to you about it yet?”

Karlie grinned.

“I don’t know, I haven’t looked at my phone since I got here.”

She couldn’t see her, but knew Taylor was blushing.

“Shut up” Taylor said playfully.

They continued talking about their plans for the next few days until Karlie decided to cook up a small dinner for them, and in the meantime Andrea came home, bags full of groceries and a present for her friend back in Nashville.

Taylor couldn’t help but notice how easy it all felt, having Karlie around her mother, her mother asking her about college and her family and everyone getting along so well. And as much as she loved her career, the music and her fans, she caught herself wishing they wouldn’t find a cure for her anytime soon if this was her life while invisible.


	8. Eight

“Oh thank god, finally!” Kimby exclaimed as they entered the café and warm air surrounded them.

She made a beeline towards a larger free table to claim the spot on the couch for herself. Kariann, her twin sister, Karlie and her friends Kelley and Christen trailed behind her, relieved to finally be inside as well and started taking off their coats.

The weather had been quite cold the past days, with temperatures in the 40s, but this weekend had also brought rain with it, creating an uncomfortable environment no one wanted to be subjected to longer than necessary.

The five of them sat down, with Kimby and Kelley next to each other on the couch and the other three on the chairs around the table, leaving one chair empty.

Well, not really. In fact, it was occupied, but only three of them were aware of it.

Kimby was able to stop Kelley in the last second before the freckled girl would have slammed her bag and coat over the empty chair and onto the invisible Taylor.

“Can’t you put your stuff next to you or on the floor like everyone else?” Kimby asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Jeez, you sound like Christen” Kelley responded, but did as she was told.

Kariann and Karlie were confused at first, but then understood what was going on. Both of them felt a bit uncomfortable and were shocked how easily the singer could have gotten hurt or exposed. Taylor, however, had to do her best not to laugh out loud at the hilarity of the situation, and to give her presence away. So she bit the inside of her cheek and quietly chuckled to herself.

Once they had all sat down, they started looking through the menus that were laid out on the table. As always, Kelley and Kimby were discussing all the options loudly, while Kariann and Christen studied them quietly by themselves. Karlie on the other hand knew what she wanted since she went to this place often. They were at The Reign Coffee, which was popular with college students in the area, and where she and Taylor had had their first ‘date’. She looked to where Taylor was sitting and wondered if the invisible singer was thinking about that day as well. She smiled, hoping her girlfriend would see it.

After a while a waitress approached their table to take their orders. Karlie recognized the waitress, it was Nahomi. Ever since she and Taylor had gone there together and Taylor had taken a picture with the waitress, the two of them sometimes made small talk whenever Karlie was there. She appreciated that Nahomi never asked her about how she knew Taylor, though.

Nahomi recognized Karlie as well and gave her a small smile.

“Hey Karlie, what can I get you today?” she asked in her usual, friendly voice.

“I’d like a green tea, and the new vegetarian sandwich, I haven’t had it yet” Karlie replied.

Nahomi wrote down her order, and everyone else placed their orders as well. Karlie suddenly remembered that this was the first time Taylor was out eating somewhere and would, for obvious reasons, not the able to order. _Shit_ , she thought. _We didn’t think this through_.

Kariann read her sister’s thoughts and bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing out loud. Of course they hadn’t thought about that.

 _Oh my god_ , Kimby chimed in, communicating silently with her twin.

 _Guess she’ll have to starve_ , she added and let a chuckle escape her lips.

Karlie gave her a look that said _not funny_ , knowing what her sisters were talking about even though she couldn’t read their thoughts back.

 _How did you know earlier that Taylor had already sat down?_ Kariann asked her twin silently.

_I mean I guessed she would use the free chair, but how did you know?_

_Wait what?_ Kimby replied.

Both of the twins usually did pretty well to communicate silently while listening to the conversation around them, but this question threw Kimby off guard and she squinted her eyes together.

“Dude!” Kelley laughed.

“You just looked at Kariann like you just realized she was your twin” the girl giggled.

Christen looked between the two sisters, confused about her teammate’s statement.

“Sorry” Kimby said, trying to sound unaffected.

“I just remembered something.”

“Please don’t tell me you left on the water in your room again” Kelley deadpanned.

Kimby grinned. “No, don’t worry, nothing about the room. I think I forgot to bring socks” she said weakly, hoping to get away with her white lie.

“We can go to the store later and buy some” Christen offered, always the planner.

“Thanks” Kimby smiled at her friend.

 _What’s going on?_ Karlie thought as loudly as possible, trying to get the twins’ attention.

Kariann startled a little at the volume of her sister’s thoughts, but tried her best to convey to her through subtle facial expressions that they would have to talk about it later. Sometimes it was really inconvenient that Karlie possessed none of their skills.

Meanwhile, Taylor just sat there, doing her best to not make a sound, not even make the chair squeak. She was as confused as Karlie as to what the twins had been talking about, but figured they would have to wait to talk about it until they got home. She just hoped she wasn’t putting any of them into some sort of predicament. Except she did.

The conversation resumed and their orders came. Everyone except Karlie had ordered coffee for drinks.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t bring you your order yet” Nahomi, the waitress, said towards Christen as she had put down the other mugs on the table.

“We’re currently out of almond milk and have no other plant milk here, either. I asked my co-worker to go to the store, but right now the rain is pretty heavy, so she will go when it’s less. I’m so sorry. Can I get you something else in the meantime? It’s on the house” she explained.

“Oh, no it’s alright. In that case I’d like a green tea as well” Christen said and smiled, not bothered at all by the inconvenience.

“Thank you, I will bring it right away” Nahomi replied, a relieved expression on her face, and turned around to the kitchen again.

After they had taken their obligatory selfies, the girls started eating. Kimby, however, suddenly noticed that she couldn’t see Taylor’s silhouette anymore.

 _I can’t see Taylor anymore_ , she communicated towards Kariann while taking a bite from her tuna sandwich, trying to listen to Kelley ramble on and focus on talking to her twin at the same time so as to not get caught again.

 _Well, duh_ , Kariann simply replied, placing her own sandwich down on her plate again.

 _No. Not what I meant. You can’t see her silhouette? It’s like there’s a faint shimmer where she is,_ Kimby explained.

 _What? No, no I can’t see anything,_ Kariann said confused.

 _Oh_ , was all Kimby could think.

 _So that’s how you knew she was already sitting down earlier, and combined with your ability to see things before they happen you prevented her from getting smashed by Kelley’s bag,_ her twin reasoned.

_Yeah, exactly._

Kariann took a sip of her coffee to give herself a moment to think.

_But why can’t I see her? And why can’t you see her anymore right now?_

Just as she asked this question, Kimby’s eyes went wide, but she did her best to hide it and took a sip of her coffee as well instead.

_Oh no she didn’t._

_What?_ Kariann asked nervously, the tone of Kimby’s thoughts sounding foreign.

_She came back … from the kitchen._

Kariann did her best not to put her hands over her face.

_Oh lord._

_What’s going on?_ Karlie’s loud thought interrupted the two of them again, but all they could do was for Kimby to make a vague, subtle hand gesture in her direction.

 _Wait, can’t you read Taylor’s thoughts?_ Kimby asked suddenly.

 _No, because I can’t see her,_ her twin said sadly.

_That would have made things a lot easier …_

_She sat down agai-,_ Kimby was about to explain when Nahomi came rushing out of the kitchen, holding a cup of coffee.

“I’m sorry, this is so strange, but we just found a half empty carton of almond milk on the kitchen counter, I could have sworn it wasn’t there before. Don’t worry, I did a taste test and it’s fresh, so I made you your coffee” she said towards Christen, placing the cup in front of the soccer player.

“Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“It’s alright” Christen said and smiled.

Nahomi returned to the kitchen again, and Kelley started talking again.

The Kloss sisters, however, looked at each other like they were sensing something was off.

Kimby took another bite of her sandwich before letting her thought go toward her twin.

 _Did Taylor ..._ she trailed off.

 _I thought so too,_ Kariann stated.

 _Please don’t tell me Taylor did this_ , Karlie chimed in, unaware of their previous thoughts.

Kimby just gave her older sister an apologetic look. They really had to establish a communication system for when they were with non-conjurers, she thought.

“I’m going to the bathroom real quick” Karlie announced to no one in particular when an idea popped into her head, getting up and taking her purse.

Kimby shrugged and joined the conversation again, which was mostly Kelley talking about something soccer-related with the occasional comment from Christen.

Meanwhile, Kariann received a frantic text from Karlie.

 

**Karl Lee**

What’s going on? Did the sudden discovery of the almond milk have anything to do with Taylor? What were you guys talking about before that? I’m freaking out. Do we need to head home?

_3:21 PM_

 

Kariann sighed and replied to her sister, holding her phone under the table, reassuring her they didn’t need to go home, but that they thought it had been Taylor as well and that apparently Kimby could see the singer’s silhouette and she couldn’t.

 

**Karl Lee**

Ok. We should have met up before this so we could talk about it. We didn’t plan this properly …

_3:23 PM_

 

**Kariann**

It’s gonna be ok.

_3:23 PM_

 

Kariann took a screen shot of the conversation to send to Kimby and Taylor, so the singer would know they were on to her shenanigans. Karlie came back to the table in the meantime.

When they heard an incoming message tone from the side of the table no one was sitting at, however, Kariann immediately regretted texting Taylor.

_Fuck …_

Her sisters stared at her, while Kelley and Christen looked around confused.

“Whose phone was that?” Christen wondered.

“It came from my right side.”

“Oh, probably from the other table” Karlie said, nodding towards the next table were a young couple was sitting.

“Oh well” Christen shrugged it off and finished eating her sandwich.

The Kloss sisters breathed out collectively.

Just then, Karlie received a text from Taylor.

 

**Tay Tay**

Sorry …

_3:25 PM_

I put my phone on silent now …

_3:25 PM_

 

**Karlie**

Jeez Taylor.

We gotta talk to the twins when we get home. No more shenanigans while we’re out today!

_3:26 PM_

 

**Tay Tay**

Yeah …

_3:26 PM_

 

The rest of their time at the café went by without any other incidents, and the girls made plans to meet up again at a Karaoke bar that night before separating, with Christen and Kelley going to their friend’s place that they were staying at, and the twins and Taylor going to Karlie’s apartment. They would have a lot to talk about.

 

 


	9. Nine

“Do you have any food here? God I’m starving” Taylor announced as soon as they arrived at Karlie’s student apartment.

“Watching other people eat is a form of torture!” she added dramatically.

“There’s a box of pop tarts in the cabinet that you left here a while ago” Karlie replied, sounding exhausted.

“I don’t eat that stuff so I have no idea if it’s still good though.”

Taylor dashed towards the small kitchen, and the next thing the Kloss sisters saw was the cabinets seemingly open on their own.

“This is so funny” Kariann giggled.

“I have to admit, I’m almost used to it by now” Karlie shrugged and sat down on the couch, pulling a blanket over her lap.

“I found them!” Taylor’s voice sounded from the kitchen.

“Does anyone else want tea?” she added.

“Yeah, just make enough for the teapot” Karlie answered.

Meanwhile the twins sat down on the air mattress they had been sleeping on the previous night, facing Karlie.

They could hear the water boiling in the kitchen, and watched with great interest as tea mugs hovered in the air. Karlie however, was on her phone, replying to her messages.

“Mom texted me, asking if we’re having fun. I sent her the selfie from earlier” Karlie looked up at the twins.

“She also asked how Taylor is doing. She says she’s worried because she read all kinds of stuff on the internet, and I only told her what Taylor told the press – that she’s sick. I don’t know what to tell her, she is genuinely worried …”

Before the twins could reply, the tea pot came hovering into the room and was placed on the couch table in front of Karlie. The taller girl looked up expectantly to where she assumed Taylor was standing.

“Aww, your mom is always so sweet” Taylor said.

“Tell her I’m better, and tell her hi from me. I’m sorry I can’t make it to your house on Thanksgiving …” she added, but then trailed off, a hint of sadness in her voice.

“It’s ok” Karlie said softly, her annoyance from earlier not as apparent.

“My parents understand.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it” Kimby reassured the singer as well.

“I mean, we would love to have you over, but you’re busy and you barely get to see your own family. And we don’t know how long this situation is going to last anyways …” she added, making a vague hand gesture towards Taylor.

“Yeah” Taylor simply said and went back to the kitchen to bring the mugs.

Once she had sat down on the couch next to Karlie, they started talking about what had gone down earlier at the café.

“So” Karlie started, looking towards Taylor.

“Did you sneak into the kitchen and make the almond milk appear?”

“It can hardly be considered ‘sneaking’ when you’re invisible … but yeah” Taylor admitted.

Karlie groaned.

“I just wanted to save the poor waitress from having to go outside during this weather, and for Christen to get her coffee …” the singer explained herself.

“And come on, it didn’t go completely wrong. Even though I only managed to get a half full container of the thing I wanted, again, and I still have a headache from the effort …” she added.

“This could have gone wrong. What if one of the waitresses bumped into you?” Karlie asked, the annoyance back in her voice.

The twins knew very well what that tone of voice from their older sibling meant. It meant that you better not try and talk yourself out of whatever you said or did, because she was right and knew it.

Taylor sighed.

“That didn’t happen, it only took like a minute, and they were in the back.”

She grabbed Karlie’s hand, startling the taller girl.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you” she giggled.

“Look, I’m sorry, I know I promised to take this situation seriously. I really am. I just couldn’t help myself. Please don’t be mad.”

This time it was Karlie who sighed audibly.  
  
“It’s ok” she gave in, unable to be mad at her girlfriend for long, anyways.

“But you’re an idiot for not putting your phone on silent” she added.

Taylor giggled in response and gave Karlie a quick peck on the lips.

“Yeah … you’re lucky I’m _your_ idiot” she replied and kissed Karlie again.

Karlie laughed and pushed her away.

“There are children around!” she protested jokingly.

“I’m happy I can’t see you right now” Kariann said drily.

“Which brings us to our next point!” Kimby said, directing the others’ attention to the subject again.

“Why is it that I can see your silhouette, Taylor, but Kari can’t?”

Taylor took a moment to think before replying.

“I have no idea. Nevada, a CA member from California who helped us get here, and Beverly, I mean Mrs Yanez, can see my silhouette too. But they said only some conjurers can. So I guess it’s not that big of a deal.”

“But why?” Kariann mumbled, nervously fidgeting with the hem of the air mattress.

“I want to see you too …” she said quietly.

Karlie and Kimby exchanged a look, and Kimby quickly gave her twin a side hug.

“Hey, it’s not a big deal. It’s not like Taylor, or any of us for that matter, knew this was a thing” she tried to reassure her.

“Yeah, I know … sorry, this is stupid …” Kariann said, still looking down.

“It’s ok. It’s nothing personal, who can see Taylor and who can’t. Nevada can see her too and they only met a couple days ago” her twin continued to comfort her.

Kimby shielded her thoughts from her twin so she wouldn’t be able to hear them. She knew that ever since her own kidnapping at the beginning of the year, her and Taylor’s bond had become stronger; as it had been Taylor who had suggested that Kimby had been kidnapped because of her conjuring skills. And the incident that had set all of this in motion had essentially started with Kimby’s intuition, as well. She had since sensed that Kariann was sad that such a bond did not exist between herself and Taylor. She knew her twin well enough to know that she wasn’t jealous, or even disliked Taylor. Kariann adored the singer just as much as before they had met her. But Kimby sometimes felt like Kariann was avid for the special bond that she and Taylor shared. She made a mental note to talk about this when they were back at college.

“Yeah” Kariann simply responded.

“Ok, sorry, let’s go on.”

Karlie filled all of their cups with the steaming beverage.

“So …” she started and adjusted herself on the couch, making room for Taylor to lay down and put her head on her chest.

“Did you two notice anything of importance that we’ve overlooked?” she asked.

The twins shook their heads.

“No” Kimby answered truthfully.

“But I’m still glad we came here instead of going to Virginia Bach Iike we had planned. I would have died from curiosity. No offense, Taylor” she added quickly and giggled.

“It’s ok” Taylor laughed.

“Though I have to say … usually people travel far to _see_ me, not to _not see_ me” she said drily, causing Karlie to roll her eyes and pinch her side and the twins to laugh.

“At least you have a sense of humor about it” Kariann said.

“Oh trust me, I’ve had my fair share of anxiety about this already. I know I’m making dumb jokes, but I’m actually terrified. My mom was here for a few days and she left this morning and I already feel so lost …” she admitted, voice getting quieter with each word.

“Oh babe” Karlie cooed and gave her a soft kiss on the head.

“I got you” she reassured her.

“This won’t last forever, you just have to do what the other CA members say. Did you talk to Mr Edwards?” she asked.

Taylor snuggled more into Karlie’s chest.

The twins tried not to be weirded out by the sight in front of them as they could only see their sister lying in an uncomfortable-looking position on her couch, seemingly stroking air. They busied themselves by taking their cups of tea from the couch table and placing them next to themselves on the floor.

“Yeah, we talked on the phone yesterday after my interview. He said that he read about another, old method that he wants me to try. Something about sitting in front of a mirror surrounded by stones. He is sending me thirteen smoky quartz’ to help me strengthen the power of my mind, or whatever. They should arrive Monday. I don’t know what to think of that method but I’m willing to try anything at this point” Taylor explained.

“I didn’t know the CA worked with Wiccan methods” Kimby chimed in, a doubtful expression on her face.

“Yeah, that’s what I said, too” Taylor said.

“But he said it’s not about hocus pocus, it’s only an auxiliary medium” she shrugged.

“He’s in a high position, he will know what he’s talking about. And I’m sure you remember him from the meeting we had last year, I don’t want to be on his bad side.”

“True” Kariann stated.

“I did some research myself” Karlie joined the conversation again, making everyone look at her.

“I looked up how invisibility works, I even found some academic articles in my college’s online library” she continued.

“And what did you conclude from your research, Dr Kloss?” Taylor asked teasingly, to which KarIie groaned in response.

“I concluded”, Karlie started, “that it is physically impossible to be invisible.”

“How?” Taylor asked.

“Well, in order for you to be invisible, light would have to go through your body, right? Light has to hit the object’s surface and be reflected in order for us to see it. But if the light goes through your body, it means it would also not be reflected on your retina. You would be blind” Karlie explained.

The other three thought about this for a moment.

“Oh, but I’m not” Taylor stated.  
  
“Blind, I mean. And Beverly didn’t mention any scientific stuff either. So I don’t think this can be explained scientifically.”

The twins agreed.  
  
“I just thought I’d try to find a solution as well“, Karlie defended herself.

Taylor gave her girlfriend a quick peck on the lips.

“I know, and I appreciate it, babe. But I don’t think science can explain any of the conjuring skills. I just pulled a carton of almond milk out of thin air earlier, remember?” she teased.

“Ok Ok Ok, you’re right” Karlie laughed.  
  
“It was only half-full though, just like the carton of baking soda last year, or the box of oatmeal when we were baking cookies-“ the taller girl teased right back, however wasn’t able to finish her sentence as Taylor had started tickling her.

“Shh, don’t ruin my reputation in front of your sisters” Taylor laughed.

“I am a super cool conjurer who can pull baking ingredients out of thin air, ok?”

Karlie finally managed to get a hold of Taylor’s hands, clutching them and gasping for air.

“Taylor, we all know you’re the clumsiest conjurer in this country” Kimby deadpanned.

“Nooo” Taylor whined dramatically.

The three Kloss sisters burst out laughing.

“Yes you are, babe” Karlie said and kissed Taylor, the kiss landing on Taylor’s jaw.

Taylor gave in and snuggled into Karlie again, straddling her legs.

The four of them kept talking and laughing, chatting about everything from college to Taylor’s new album, catching up with each other.

A while later Kimby got a text from Kelley. She took a moment to read and respond to it, then looked at the others with a grin on her face.

“Alright, who’s excited for Karaoke tonight?”


	10. Ten

The Kloss sisters and Taylor entered the venue and immediately spotted Kelley and Christen sitting on a couch in the small lounge at the reception, waiting for them. They were at a popular Karaoke bar in Koreatown, and it was full of people on this Saturday night.  
  
“There you are!” Kelley greeted them excitedly and jumped up to give each girl a hug.

“Good thing that Christen made a reservation, the bar is packed from what I’ve seen and the private rooms must be too” she added, appreciating her friend’s foresight.

“You would have just showed up on a weekend, with bad weather at that, with no reservation?” Kariann asked.  
  
“Yeah, thank god for Christen. Where would we be without her” she added and laughed.

Christen just shook her head in response as if to say ‘no big deal’, even though Kariann was right, and everyone knew it. The girl’s planning had saved them multiple times since the beginning of their college life, even though they often teased her about it.

“So I reserved one of the smaller private rooms, but it’s enough for five people, and it’s cheaper too” Christen started to explain.  
  
Kimby almost chimed in that they were in fact six people, but bit her tongue at the last second. Nevertheless, she earned a glare from her twin sister.  
  
“I didn’t set a time frame because you guys are unpredictable” Christen joked.  
  
“My record is five hours” Karlie said and laughed at Christen’s wide-eyed reaction.  
  
“I’m pretty sure it was at this venue too, during freshman year.”  
  
“My record’s Iike, 10 hours” Kelley said, looking proud of herself.

Christen rolled her as at their friend.

“Can we go up to the reception now, I didn’t want to stand here the entire night” she said and grabbed her purse from the couch, then walked up to the reception. The others followed her.

“Wait, what about food and drinks?” Kelley asked, going after Christen and grabbing her arm.

“Don’t worry” the brunette reassured her.

“There’s room service.”

“Yes!” Kelley fist-bumped the air.

“I hope they have chocolate milk.”

The others just giggled at the freckled girl’s antics.

When they went upstairs to their private room, everyone was in awe of the nice atmosphere. There were big screens on each wall, comfortable-looking black couches and glass tables in the room. The light was dimmed, and there was a disco ball hanging from the ceiling.

“Wow” Kimby said impressed.

“I’m never gonna want to attend a karaoke party at our dorm again after tonight” she added, making the others laugh.

They put their coats and purses on one side of the couch and sat down, the Kloss sisters making sure there was enough room for Taylor to sit at the edge of the couch next to Karlie. Karlie could feel Taylor’s hand on her thigh, indicating that the blonde was indeed sitting next to her. She jumped a little when she heard the singer whisper in her ear.

“Please don’t stress yourself out over me tonight, just have fun, babe. I know I will have fun” Taylor said and giggled quietly.

Karli simply hummed in response, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Luckily, the others were already occupied with the TV and microphones, trying to get everything to run and discussing what songs to sing first.

“Wow, they have so many different languages, that’s awesome. Christen, can you sing something in Spanish?” Kelley asked excitedly.

Christen shrugged, feeling shy.

“Alone? I’ll have to see …”

“I’m gonna butcher an anime opening in Japanese” Kelley continued.

“Please don’t” Kimby pleaded drily, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Fine!” Kelley exclaimed in mock-offense.

She had gotten hold of one of the controllers, scrolling through the song menu. Kariann was doing the same with the second one.

“I’m just gonna put some songs from the ‘current pop songs’ recommended playlist in the queue to get us started” she announced.

“Sure” Christen said, and soon enough songs like _Shut up and dance_ , _Stay with me_ , and _Chandelier_ appeared in the queue, visible on the front screen.

“Good choices!” Kelley said, “But where’s Taylor?”

The Kloss sisters looked up at their friend in shock, until after a second they realized the girl meant songs from Taylor and not her actual person. Nevertheless, Karlie’s heart had started beating out of control at the shock and her hands had started sweating. As she tried to subtly wipe her palms on her jeans, she could hear Taylor giggle right next to her ear again. She gritted her teeth together to stop herself from telling Taylor to shut up.

“Shouldn’t _Shake it off_ be on the popular songs playlist as well?” Kelley asked Kariann, unaware of the effect of her previous question.

“Oh, yeah, I’m gonna add it now” Kariann replied as nonchalantly as possible.

 _I’m not gonna sing one of Taylor’s songs in front of her_ , she silently communicated to Kimby.

 _Same_ , her twin replied.

_This was a bad idea. We should have known …_

_Too late now. Time to embarrass ourselves in front of Taylor … once again_ , Kimby replied drily.

Meanwhile, Karlie had busied herself with her phone, using the technique they had used before in the café: texting Taylor, who had her phone on silent this time. However, the singer didn’t reply, causing Karlie to think that she probably had her phone in her pocket and was purposefully ignoring her girlfriend. The singer hadn’t brought a purse with her out of fear it would turn visible if she didn’t have it on her body the entire time. Taylor also enjoyed not having to dress up, seeing everyone in their nice clothes while she was wearing old, worn out jeans and a simple sweater, and no make-up.

Taylor was indeed ignoring her girlfriend’s messages, not wanting her to worry so much and just enjoy the night. She knew that she was about to have a lot of fun watching the girls sing her songs.

They played the first songs, with Kimby and Kelley starting in order to break the ice.

Karlie mentally prepared herself to sing _Shake it off_ in front of Taylor, but was rescued by a staff member who brought them the room service Christen had ordered. Big plates with sweet potato fries, onion rings as well as spring rolls were put on the table. To Karlie’s horror the man had also brought cheese nachos and various bottles of soft drinks and plastic cups. Kimby noticed the expression on her sister’s face and laughed.

“Come on Karlie, this isn’t the time for salad and water! Live a little!”

“She’s right!” Kelley agreed, mouth already full of fries.

“Would you mind bringing me a bottle of water?” Karlie asked the staff member, ignoring the other’s teasing.

The man grinned, but promised to bring one.

While the sophomore girls were digging into the food, Karlie got a text from Taylor.

 _Oh, so she does remember how to use her phone_ , Karlie thought, and then chuckled at the message she had gotten.

 

**Tay Tay**

I want those cheese nachos :(

_8:33 PM_

 

“What’s so funny?” Kelley asked curiously, but was interrupted by the staff member bringing the bottle of water, Karlie using the distraction to not have to answer. Instead she put a good portion of cheese nachos onto a smaller plate and put it next to herself on the couch.

“I’m just gonna put them here so I don’t have to lean over the table all the time” she tried to say as nonchalantly as possible, but earned a knowing look combined with a grin from her sisters. Kelley and Christen just shrugged.

Karlie hoped that the others wouldn’t notice that she wouldn’t take a single bite from the snack all night, and that Taylor was smart enough to eat them subtly. She was relieved when she noticed that her sisters’ friends weren’t paying any attention to her or the way the plate was placed at all, instead chatting with each other and eating. She allowed herself to relax a little more.

“Thanks, babe” Taylor said quietly into her ear and gently rubbed Karlie’s thigh. Karlie squeezed her hand slightly in response.

“Ok, time for the next song!” Kelley announced, jumping up from the couch and grabbing the microphone.

“Who wants to sing with me?” she asked, taking off her shoes so she could stand on the couch.

The Kloss sisters tried not to look as if they wanted to be swallowed by a black hole, knowing what the next song was. Taylor found the situation endlessly amusing.

To everyone’s surprise, the usually shy Christen took off her shoes as well and grabbed the mic, joining Kelley on the couch.

“That’s my girl!” Kelley exclaimed and motioned for Kariann to press play.

The familiar song started playing, with the two soccer players singing enthusiastically, and soon enough the twins joined them, dancing and singing along. Karlie could feel a nudge from Taylor to remind her to relax and have fun, and by the middle of the song Karlie felt less tense and not embarrassed by Taylor’s presence. She could only imagine the other girls’ reactions if they knew the singer was there with them.

 _Shake it off_ ended but the girls kept standing as the next song was up-beat as well and only exchanged the mics between each other. Karlie felt Taylor pulling the sleeve of her shirt, gesturing for her to stand up as well. The taller girl followed suit and Taylor put her arm around her waist. Kimby gave them a knowing look, and Karlie smiled back shyly.

 _I could get used to this_ , Karlie caught herself thinking after a while.

_This feels normal. Like we‘re just normal girls._

She looked around the room at the others enjoying themselves.

_I wish we‘d get to do this on a regular basis. I wish Taylor could just switch her invisibility on and off voluntarily._

A small sigh escaped her lips, and Taylor tightened the grip she had on her girlfriend‘s waist, sensing that she was lost in thought.

Karlie snapped out of it and squeezed Taylor’s hand as subtly as she could, but the others weren’t paying them any attention.

They sat down again after the song ended, and a quieter song started playing that Kariann had picked. Karlie grabbed the controller to put a song in the queue for herself to sing, and then took some spring rolls from the plate. She was too hungry to not eat anything at all, and to her surprise the spring rolls were not as greasy as she had feared, and they tasted okay.

A few songs later, her song of choice appeared on the screen, and everybody’s heads turned towards her.

“Did you pick this one?” Kelley asked but didn’t wait for an answer and handed her the mic.  
  
“I love it!”

“Yes Karlie!” Kimby voiced her approval as well and climbed onto the couch once more.

“Come on, you have to sing this one with us up here, it doesn’t deserve any less!”

The others nodded and cheered as Karlie started taking off her shoes.

The opening notes started playing, and Karlie tried to multitask with singing and taking off her shoes.

“All I wanna get is, a little bit closer …”

She made it up the couch, grinning at her sisters. Of course they all related this song to that one night. That one night in St Louis at Taylor’s concert, when Tegan and Sara had been the surprise guests. That one night when Taylor almost fell onstage but the twins used their powers to prevent it. That one night they had met Taylor afterwards. That one night that had had such a big effect on all their lives.

The twins grinned back at their older sister, and while she was singing Karlie could feel Taylor standing next to her on the couch, jumping up and down with her as she sang the chorus.

“It's not just all physical, I'm the type who won't get oh so critical

So let's make things physical, I won't treat you like you're oh so typical …”

Karlie felt the rush of adrenalin through her body. Being here with Taylor, singing this song … practically in public in front of two strangers, at least to Taylor. She was sure Taylor felt it too, from the way she had her arm around Karlie’s shoulder and the heat and excitement radiating from her that she didn’t need to see to know it was there.

“Here come the dreams of you and me, here come the dreams …”

The chorus came on one last time, then the song faded away.

During the last bit, Kariann’s eyes suddenly spotted something odd on the ground in front of the couch across from her. She blinked in confusion, then looked again.

A pair of shoes had appeared on the floor out of nowhere.

It took Kariann a second, but then she realized what had happened.

 _Goddammit Taylor._  
  


 

  



	11. Eleven

_Goddammit Taylor._

Hearing her twin’s thoughts, Kimby startled and tore her eyes away from the lyrics on the screen, looking in Taylor’s direction. She saw the singer’s silhouette next to Karlie on the couch, moving to the song.  
  
She was about to ask Kariann what had happened when she saw it. Taylor’s pair of shoes were on the floor in front of the couch in plain sight.

 _Oh crap_ , Kimby silently commented towards Kariann.

 _She didn’t bring her purse for fear this would happen, and then she takes off her shoes …_ , Kariann said frustrated.

 _We can’t let Kelley and Christen see the shoes,_ Kimby said, wanting to act quickly.

She focused her eyes on the shoes and then used her skills to move them under the couch, out of sight from the other girls.

Just then the song ended, and the others looked away from the screen and jumped off the couch.

 _Phew,_ Kariann thought.

_Well done, sis._

_Oh man,_ Kimby answered.

_She really is the clumsiest conjurer I know, God._

Kariann giggled.

Kimby could see Taylor’s silhouette moving off the couch and then look for her shoes. From the body language that she was able to read, the singer just now realized what had happened.

A few moments later the twins both received a text from Taylor, telling them what they already knew: that she was too clumsy for her own good and had been too careless, and she apologized. The twins took it lightly, wanting to get past the incident. Karlie seemed completely unaware of what had gone down.

After the trouble had settled down and Kelley and Christen were done singing, everyone agreed to take a break. They had eaten most of the snacks and decided to order another round of food and drinks.

“Can we order some edamame too?” Karlie asked.

“I can’t eat this greasy stuff …”

“You sure did eat a lot of nachos by yourself though” Kelley commented jokingly.

Karlie froze, having forgotten about those.

“Oh yeah, I mean, those were ok, they weren’t so greasy” she said quickly.

Kariann looked up at the ceiling to send a quick prayer to whoever was watching them.

_Dear God, I hope we make it out of here alive without any of us screwing up._

Her twin giggled, almost choking on a piece of nacho.

_That’s what you get._

The next fifteen minutes or so went by without any slip-ups and the Kloss sisters were able to calm down. Besides the shock she had gotten from the shoe incident, Taylor still found this whole evening hilarious and felt well entertained.

They ate more of their snacks and talked about this and that, music playing quietly in the background. The conversation turned towards college once again.

“I was FaceTiming with Tobin earlier” Christen said, referring to her girlfriend and Kimby’s roommate.

The girl was currently at a training camp for the national team in Montreal, which had been the reason the others had decided to take some time off from campus as well in the first place. Not because they were envious of their friend’s achievements, but because it was good timing. Neither of them minded that they had went to New York instead of Virginia Beach at the twin’s request, either. They had just needed a change of scenery and a distraction for Christen, who would otherwise miss her girlfriend entirely too much.

“She loves camp, and this time she isn’t even the youngest player” Christen continued and laughed.

“She also asked if you guys are coming with us for the friendly match against Canada next weekend?” she asked towards the twins.

Karlie raised an eyebrow.

“You’re going to Montreal? I thought you have to study …”

The twins ducked their heads.

“Oops …” Christen said quietly, causing Kelley to laugh out loud.

“Don’t worry, Karlie” she tried to reassure her friends’ sister.

“I promise we will study enough, and we will only stay one night. Come on, it’s relatively close this time, and how often do you get to see your friend play for the national team? It’s much better than watching TV!” Kelley added.

Karlie simply gave the twins a pointed look that said _it’s your grades_ , but didn’t say anything.

Kimby quickly changed the topic.

“So, it’s gonna rain again tomorrow …”

Karlie could hear Taylor giggle quietly beside her.

The sophomore girls enthusiastically started talking about their plans for the next day, agreeing to go indoor rock climbing. They asked Karlie if she wanted to come, but she denied, needing some time for herself after the crazy week they had had. She also needed to study and prepare her lessons, but decided to let the topic rest.

“Oh, Karlie!” Kelley exclaimed after a while, turning to the older girl and trying her best to swallow the sweet potato fries in her mouth so she could talk properly.

Karlie looked at her expectantly, surprised at being addressed so directly in the middle of the conversation.

“I don’t know if you can tell, but I’ve been dying all day to ask you … you know, Kimby and Kariann told me you know Taylor Swift personally, and I’ve also seen you in paparazzi photos a couple of times …” the freckled girl started.

Oh no, here we go, Karlie thought, and by the looks on everyone else’s faces they shared the sentiment. Except for Taylor, who grabbed her imaginary popcorn to observe and enjoy the conversation that was about to happen. She was already amused by having been referred to by her whole name.

“Oh … yeah, that’s true. We’re friends” Karlie said trying to sound nonchalant while nervously glancing at the twins.

“That’s honestly so cool” Kelley gushed.

 _Ok, maybe this conversation won’t be that bad_ , Karlie thought.

“You have no idea how much I wanna know that I don’t ask because I was told to respect personal boundaries” the soccer player continued and grinned mischievously.

 _Ok, never mind, I don’t wanna do this_ , Karlie thought.

Kaiann grinned at hearing her sister’s thoughts. Nevertheless she was nervous what Kelley was going to say and ask - you never knew with her. The girl had no filter.

“Yeah, um … I’m not going to tell you any personal information, obviously. You’re gonna have to ask her yourself” Karlie responded and chuckled nervously.

She could feel Taylor slightly poke her leg, but wasn’t sure if it was because the invisible singer thought it was funny or wanted her to stop. She busied herself by taking a sip of water, her throat suddenly feeling dry and the air inside the room way too hot.

“I knoooow, I wanna meet her so bad. I’m so jealous of you guys. I’ve been to two concerts but have never been picked for a meet and greet” Kelley said.

Karlie felt like she was going to explode. It took everything in her to not tell the girl that Taylor was sitting right across from her. Kelley reminded her of her friend Cara, always loud and chatty, but with a good heart. She hoped that Taylor would find a way to meet her in the near future.

Before Karlie could come up with a response, having been lost in her thoughts, Kelley continued.  
  
“Do you know what’s up with her right now? Apparently she cancelled interviews and stuff this week? I talk to other fans online and no one knows what’s up, and there’s all kinds of rumors …”  
  
“Oh, ugh, yeah … I haven’t hung out with her in a while but we texted this week and she’s just a bit sick, nothing serious. Don’t worry” Karlie replied quickly, her heart almost beating out of her chest. She had always been a terrible liar, but Kelley seemed to believe her.

“Oh, ok. I hope she gets better soon …”

Then another mischievous grin appeared on the freckled girl’s face.

“Does it count as respecting personal boundaries if I ask you if she has a boyfriend right now? Or if she ever actually had one outside of the public eye, because if you ask me all those dudes she’s been ‘dating’”, she made air-quotes, “in the past years are so out of her league, and it always felt more like PR …”  


“Kelley!” Christen groaned, obviously made uncomfortable by Kelley’s questioning.

Kimby giggled, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t trust her own big mouth to not accidentally spill the beans.  
  
“I mean, I’m just saying …” Kelley laughed. She took another handful of fries from the plate on the table, then rearranged her seating position on the couch before she continued.

“And didn’t you go to Big Sur with Taylor a couple weeks ago? I saw it on Instagram, y’all posted some cute pictures …”  
  
Karlie took a deep breath, not liking where this conversation was going at all.

 _Help me_ , she silently pleaded towards Kariann. She could feel Taylor nudging her side once again, but wasn’t sure of the meaning the singer was trying to convey this time either.

Kariann decided to finally speak up.

“Kelley, remember what you said about boundaries? You know I love talking about Taylor with you and everything, but Karlie is not a news source, ok? Kimby and I don’t ask her personal stuff about Taylor either.”  
  
Karlie let out the breath she had been holding. Christen looked timidly from one of her friends to the other, not liking the tense atmosphere Kelley had created.

Indeed, the tension in the room was almost palpable after Kariann had finished speaking, and even Kelley seemed to have picked up on it.

“Yeah … sorry” she said quietly, sounding remorseful – a rare sight even for her closest friends.

“I know you don’t mean any harm” Karlie said reconciliatory.

“And I know it’s exciting for you to know someone who knows Taylor personally. But as Kari said, I’m not going to talk about personal stuff. I will tell you this much, because she gets asked this in interviews all the time – she’s single.”

Karlie had no idea what had gotten into her that she dug further into the topic instead of just letting it go. She could see the twins’ confused look on their faces and feel Taylor tense up next to her. All she knew in that moment was that she felt the strong need to protect Taylor and their relationship and to keep Kelley from asking more questions.

She breathed out slowly, trying to regain her composure. She was reminded of the moment on TV when Taylor had told the interviewers she was single and how much it had hurt. Her own statement hurt her right now, too. She could only imagine how hurt Taylor was in this moment. Had the TV interview really been less than a week ago? With everything that had happened in the meantime, it felt like forever ago.

Kelley had only hummed in response and was now looking expectantly at Karlie to continue, not knowing what else to say herself.

Karlie hoped her voice wouldn’t shake when she spoke next, wanting to sound unaffected.

“We can talk about her music and everything else, though, of course” she said and smiled weakly.

“Oh, yeah, totally!” Kelley said excitedly, a relieved expression washing over her face.

“We also haven’t sung enough Taylor songs yet! Can I ask what your favorite song on _1989_ is?” she added, back to her usual, bubbly self again.

The tension in the room had disappeared as fast as it had manifested. Karlie subtly squeezed Taylor’s hand, hoping to convey all of her feelings to her secret girlfriend.

“I’m gonna take a bathroom break” Christen announced to no one in particular and left the room. She needed some time for herself after the conversation they had just had, not being good when it came to conflict, no matter how small.

The other girls started a debate on what their favorite song from Taylor’s new album was. Kelley favored _Welcome to New York_ and _Out of the woods_ , while Karlie admitted to her favorites being _I know places_ and _You are in love_. This earned her smug grins and wiggling eyebrows from her sisters, but luckily Kelley didn’t ask for any reasons behind Karlie’s choices.

Meanwhile, Taylor sat on the edge of the couch next to Karlie and observed the conversation. She appreciated Kelley’s knowledge of her songs and interest in her music. When it had become clear after Kimby’s disappearance at the beginning of the year that Kelley had made her friend walk home from a party alone at night, Taylor had initially thought poorly of the soccer player. However as the case had progressed and Kelley had seen her mistake and then even given the police the deciding information to finding Kimby, Taylor had realized she had made too quick a judgement on the girl.

Meeting her in person so many months later after everything had been resolved, she even took a liking to the lively girl. She could see how Kimby and Kelley were friends. Taylor made a mental note to invite the twins and their friends to one of her upcoming shows for the 1989 tour in the following year so Kelley could meet her. The thought that the girl had no idea she was in the room right now with them made her chuckle once more, the situation had yet to stop being funny to her.

When Christen came back, everyone agreed to continue singing.

“Is anyone opposed to me filling the queue only with Taylor songs? No? Ok!” Kelley announced, not actually waiting for anyone to answer.

“Bring it on!” Kimby agreed and climbed onto the couch once more.

The familiar opening notes of _Sparks Fly_ started playing, and the twins cheered.

“This is our song!” Kelley shouted, standing on the couch again as well.

Of course they all remembered their move-in day at college more than a year ago, when Kimby had blasted the song through the hallway, setting in motion their friendship with Kelley.

Karlie smiled at the sophomore girls, having heard this story a million times.

The friends picked up right where they had left off with the previous song, pouring all their energy into a dramatic performance of their favorite songs. Even Christen and Kariann got carried away once more, and Karlie couldn’t help put take out her phone and record them, grinning from ear to ear.

With Taylor’s hand resting on her thigh, she felt comfortable again, her previous irritation forgotten about.  
  
A while later, the girls exhaustedly plumped down on the couch, grabbing their drinks from the table and taking in deep breaths.  
  
“I think the next song is one of yours” Kariann said towards Karlie in between taking big gulps of her soft drink.

“Oh, yeah” Karlie said and grabbed the nearest mic.

She cleared her throat as the song started playing, feeling nervous. Her voice sounded a little raspy the first few lines, and she could feel the other’s eyes on her. Especially a certain pair of blue eyes close to her, that she wouldn’t be able to see even if she turned around.

 

“I could stay awake just to hear you breathing

Watch you smile while you are sleeping

While you're far away dreaming …”

 

Karlie kept her eyes glued to the screen, even though she knew the lyrics by heart. She feared that if she turned around and looked at anyone, be it her sisters or their friends, she wouldn’t be able to keep it together.

Taylor, on the other hand, had overcome the initial surprise that had come over her at her girlfriend’s boldness at playing this song right there at that time and simply leaned into Karlie’s side, trying her best to let her know her appreciation.

Both of them had plenty of memories associated with this song, including slow dancing on the balcony on a star-lit, warm summer night, when it had seemed like they were the only two people in the world.

 

“Don't want to close my eyes

I don't want to fall asleep

'Cause I'd miss you babe

And I don't want to miss a thing …”

 

Karlie did her best to convey all her feelings through the song. Her singing voice was nothing compared to Taylor’s, obviously, but she didn’t care.

While she enjoyed having Taylor tag along to simple outings like this, she also at the same time missed seeing her terribly. It pained her that no matter if she kept her eyes open or closed, she was unable to see her girlfriend. She missed her blue eyes and the way her eyes lit up at some stupid joke Karlie would make.

 

“ … 'Cause even when I dream of you

The sweetest dream will never do

I'd still miss you babe

And I don't want to miss a thing”

 

For now, all Karlie had was Taylor’s voice and touch. She could feel her body tingling from the close contact they were having as Karlie was singing. Taylor had her arms wrapped around Karlie’s waist and shoulder, making it hard for Karlie to move a lot – not that she wanted to. The two of them were swaying along to the rhythm of the song, Taylor humming along to the melody close to Karlie’s ear for only her to hear. Karlie’s free hand was subtly resting atop of Taylor’s thigh that was draped over Karlie’s lap.

The two of them enjoyed their secret moment for as long as the song lasted, still holding on to each other as the music slowly faded away.


	12. Twelve

Karlie closed her laptop and put it into her bag, then grabbed her phone from the table and quietly got up. She headed downstairs towards the small student cafeteria in the library building, needing a study break.

Luckily the cafeteria was almost empty, but it didn’t surprise Karlie. It was a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon.

“What can I get for you?” the barista asked in a friendly voice when she approached the counter.

“A medium black coffee, please” Karlie placed her order.

She rarely drank coffee, but she felt like she needed one in order to stay awake today.

She took the steaming mug to a seat near the window and checked her text messages. Sure enough, there were texts from Taylor and the twins, and from Cara. She was going to meet her friends Cara and Derek later that day, but they still hadn’t decided on a place to meet. The twins had sent pictures from their day at the indoor rock climbing location where they were with their friends. Karlie simply replied with the thumbs up emoji, then opened Taylor’s texts.

 

**Tay Tay**

I just took a ten minute nap then woke up two hours later with Dibbles sitting on my chest and Mere at the foot of the bed staring at me

_1:35 PM_

I hope your studies are going well :*

_1:46 PM_

**Karlie**

Thanks, babe :* taking a break rn

_3:22 PM_

 

**Karlie**

Going well! Gonna be here for a little more then meet Cara and Derek

_3:23 PM_

**Tay Tay**

I wanna meet them too :(

_3:23 PM_

**Karlie**

I know :( …. Soon!

_3:23 PM_

 

 

**Tay Tay**

And Jourdan too :(

_3:24 PM_

**Karlie**

Me too … she’s been so busy since her graduation, I miss her.  We’ll make something work soon!

What are you up to?

_3:24 PM_

**Tay Tay**

Just tidying up a little, feeding the cats … gonna call my mom later … haven’t had a quiet Sunday like this in ages lol

_3:24 PM_

 

Karlie thought about what to reply next while looking out the window, watching people with their umbrellas walk quickly from one building to another. She took a sip from her coffee and sighed. It was obvious that Taylor had started to enjoy her invisibility more each day and was anxious about it less each day. Nevertheless, no one knew how long it would still last. It couldn’t last forever, right?

**Karlie**

Yeah I can imagine … when is Beverly going to visit you again?

_3:26 PM_

 

 

**Tay Tay**

Tomorrow! :)

_3:26 PM_

**Karlie**

Great! Can I come over after my classes tomorrow?

_3:27 PM_

**Tay Tay**

You don’t have to ask, Karlie!

_3:27 PM_

**Karlie**

Ok ok :D

_3:28 PM_

**Tay Tay**

Can’t wait :*

_3:28 PM_

 

They texted for a while more until Karlie finished her coffee and wanted to go upstairs again. She smiled when Taylor sent her thirteen heart emojis. Her girlfriend always did that, but it never failed to make Karlie smile and the butterflies in her stomach go wild. Even though they had spent most of the week together, she still missed Taylor. It just wasn’t the same when she couldn’t actually see her. Karlie pushed those thoughts aside and willed herself to power through the rest of the study session.

 

***

 

In another part of the city the next morning, Taylor sat at the kitchen island with a cup of coffee, browsing Instagram and waiting for Beverly to arrive. Contrary to the CA member’s last visit, Taylor now felt completely at ease, even though technically her situation hadn’t changed.

A while later Beverly arrived and the two of them sat down on the couch, chatting like old friends.

“How was the rest of your week?” Taylor asked, genuinely interested. She realized she had no idea what Beverly did in her life when she wasn’t trying to help clean up Taylor’s mess.

“It was very exciting! As you know I was here for a work-related thing, not CA related, and we had seminars and stuff, it was interesting. I did meet some other CA members in my free time though, but we didn’t talk about you, don’t worry” Beverly said and laughed, smile wrinkles forming around her eyes.

“What about you?” she asked and took a sip of the coffee Taylor had made her.

Taylor told her what she had been up to, especially Saturday. She figured it would be in her best interest to be honest with the other woman, and so she didn’t sugarcoat any of her little faux pas she had gotten into.

“Taylor …” Beverly said when the singer had finished talking, sounded unamused.

“I understand that you don’t want to stay in your house all the time, but … oh well. There’s no use talking about it now, it’s already happened and you didn’t expose yourself. You were lucky.”

Taylor simply nodded, not knowing what to say. Had she expected Beverly to laugh along with her? She didn’t know what to think.

Instead of dwelling on it, they changed the topic.

“So those stones that Mr Edwards sent me arrived this morning and I already tried them … put them around me and meditated in front of the mirror. Not sure if it had any effect, though …” Taylor explained.

Beverly rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know either, but if he recommended it … I personally think it’s silly. But it’s not like I have a better idea …” she trailed off and laughed drily.

“Yeah, same” Taylor chuckled.

Meredith came into the living room and approached the couch, curious about the visitor. Her appearance sparked a conversation about pets, Beverly telling Taylor that she and her husband had recently adopted a puppy. While the two women were animatedly talking, Meredith lost interest again, however, and made herself comfortable at the other end of the couch, not once coming too close to Beverly.

Taylor found herself gushing about how well Karlie got along with Meredith, better than anyone else from her friends and family and at times even herself. She even showed Beverly pictures on her phone from when they had just adopted Olivia – by now she had figured out how long she would have to touch or let go of items for other people to be able to see them again. She really had gotten used to a lot of weird things within this past week.

Beverly noticed how much Taylor referred to herself and Karlie as ‘we’ and ‘us’, and decided to ask about Taylor’s future plans.

“So … I know we talked about this a little at the meeting last year and I also am aware it’s not your favorite topic, but … what are your future plans career-wise? Your album is so successful. Do you plan on coming out anytime soon?”

Taylor was glad that Beverly was unable to see her blush.

“Umm … define ‘soon’?” she laughed nervously.

“Like, not during this album cycle. I have a tour planned for next year, and so much more stuff … I don’t know, my publicist and I agreed to keep everything the way it is right now. I mean I am seen in public with Karlie from time to time … so right now we’re just … hiding in plain sight I guess?”

She sighed and reached for her cup, only to find that it was empty. She put it back on the couch table and looked at Beverly.

“I understand that you sometimes hire men to pretend to be your boyfriends in public?” the other woman asked in a tone of voice that reminded Taylor she was a professional therapist.

The singer let out a dry laugh.

“Yeah, that’s true … though we’re going with the ‘happy and single’ image right now” she smirked, and Beverly raised an eyebrow.

“I know, I know … it’s not an ideal situation, but it’s easier than coming out right now” Taylor added defeated.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t judging. I’m just not all that familiar with how the entertainment industry works …” Beverly replied.

“Oh, yeah …” Taylor looked at her intently.

“I’m not gonna need you to sign an NDA, right?” she asked only half-jokingly.

“A what?”

“Never mind.”

Taylor fiddled with the hem of her shirt, unsure of what to say next.

“Anyways …” she continued after a few seconds.

“I might ease my way into coming out with the next album, but that will be a few years from now … it will also depend on, you know, Karlie’s and my situation then …”

Beverly nodded, understanding what Taylor wanted to say.

When Taylor thought of her future, she saw Karlie in it, no questions asked. She dreamed about a quieter life career-wise, much like it had been this past week, still making music but enjoying her private life at the same time. However, she didn’t want to scare Karlie away by talking about possible scenarios that were too far ahead. She was well aware of their not huge but also not insignificant age difference, and that Karlie was unsure about what to do after college. In short, they hadn’t talked about their future together much yet. They both knew they were taking things one day at a time.

“But there’s something else I wanted to ask you” Taylor spoke up again, changing the topic.

“I know I said this last year as well, but I want to become more involved in CA activities. Particularly, I want to learn more about my own skills. Are there classes for adults or something?”

Beverly looked like she hadn’t expected a question like that, but quickly caught herself.

“Well … you know, usually we only teach children and teenagers, because that’s when they learn the most. They figure out their skills at a young age and we help them control them.”

Taylor hummed in response.

“At your age it’s increasingly difficult to learn to control your skills if you haven’t yet. That’s why we’re so strict with keeping track of every conjurer and their skills …” Beverly added.

“I did get classes as a kid, I just didn’t keep up with everything as I got older. And I had no idea about the invisibility thing as a child …” Taylor said, feeling the need to defend herself.

“I know … I’m not saying it’s your fault” Beverly said softly.

“I will talk to Mr Edwards and others here in New York, maybe they have an idea” she added reconciliatory.

“Thank you. If you know anyone who could teach me privately, that’d be great. I’d pay them well, too” Taylor said and laughed.

“I have no idea what such a lesson would involve, though” she added.

“You would mainly learn to control your invisibility through trial and error” Beverly explained, being an instructor herself.

“You do exercises. Switch back and forth. Learn how your skills work for you personally.”

Taylor giggled, remembering her clumsiness when it came to these things.

“Can I also learn how to conjure up full packages of the thing I wanted?” she joked, and Beverly laughed with her.

“Actually, that’s just a matter of practice too, so, yeah.”

Taylor clenched her fist in success: “Yesss!”

They talked more about conjuring skills in general, and then some more about this and that until Beverly had to leave.

Taylor felt like she had made a new friend; after all she had been nervous about meeting with Beverly just half a week ago, and now they had been chatting amicably for over an hour. They hugged when they said their goodbyes and promised to stay in touch and agreed on Taylor updating her on everything regarding her condition.

The update would come sooner than either of them had imagined.

 


	13. Thirteen

“Can’t we stay in and watch a movie?” Taylor asked and demonstratively crossed her arms in front of her chest like a small child.

Then she remembered Karlie couldn’t see that, and reluctantly got up from the couch.

“We can always do that later. Please, I’ve been inside all day and the weather was nice today for the first time in how long?” Karlie stood by her point to want to go for a walk.

“Fine” Taylor gave in and walked over to Karlie, who was already getting ready to leave.

“I haven’t been to Central Park since the summer, let’s go there?” the taller girl suggested, then jumped a little in surprise when she felt Taylor’s arms around her waist.

“Jesus Christ, Taylor, don’t scare me like that” she laughed, gripping onto the singer’s arm.

“Let me have my fun” Taylor mumbled and turned Karlie around so that she could hug her properly and rest her head on her chest.

Karlie instinctively rubbed Taylor’s back and pulled her closer. They stood like that for a few moments until Taylor spoke up again.

“But yeah, Central Park is fine. At this point I don’t really care where I am in public, might as well go wherever I want” she said drily.

Karlie just hummed in response, but in her mind she wondered how long this would go on. This invisibility couldn’t last forever, right? It had been one week … it felt like much longer than that.

“I miss seeing your face” she mumbled against Taylor’s hair.

These past one and a half days of being apart from each other had been good for her, but walking into Taylor’s apartment earlier and still not being able to see her had affected Karlie more than she’d like to admit.

“I do, too” Taylor responded and giggled.

“Shut up” Karlie laughed and shoved the singer playfully.

Taylor dramatically held on to Karlie’s waist and immediately closed the distance again.

“You need to tell me all about Beverly’s visit this morning” Karlie said and gave Taylor a quick peck on her head that landed on her forehead.

“Come on, let’s go outside before it gets dark.”

 

***

 

The couple got out of the subway station and walked the short distance towards the entrance of Central Park. They decided to walk to the lake, the distance being not too long and not too short from where they were starting.

“The fall leaves always look so beautiful here” Karlie mused after a while and stopped to take her phone out of her coat’s pocket to take pictures of the tall trees.

“Yeah, they do” Taylor agreed.

“I must admit, it was a good idea to come here instead of hanging around the apartment.”

Karlie turned back towards her and beamed at her.

The kept walking, trying to hold hands while doing so without Karlie looking weird.

“I wish I could turn the people I touch invisible as well, like my clothes” Taylor giggled quietly as an elderly couple walked past them.

“How cool would that be?”

“It would be very cool if you could do it on demand” Karlie deadpanned.

“And not like this” she made a vague hand gesture between the two of them, “ya know.”

“Ok ok, got it” Taylor laughed.

They had to be careful when talking to each other in public in order for strangers to not hear Taylor’s voice or Karlie look like she was talking to herself. Since the phone ringtone incident at the café and the shoe incident at the karaoke bar, Taylor had learned - or so she thought.

After they had left the karaoke bar Saturday night the twins and Taylor had a good laugh at the clueless Karlie who had been completely oblivious to what had happened with Taylor’s shoes while they were singing. Nevertheless, Karlie had been able to laugh it off and admitted it was better she hadn’t noticed or else she’d had gotten a heart attack.

They kept walking leisurely, admiring the beautiful fall colors and enjoying the relative silence compared to the noise of the city. There weren’t many people around, and those that were there were mostly young families or couples of all ages.

Taylor told Karlie what she had talked about with Beverly earlier that day, and Karlie filled her in on the latest news from her friends and college, and let Taylor know that the twins and their friends had made it back to college in time for their afternoon classes.

“Want to sit down?” Karlie asked after a while when the lake came into view and they reached two unoccupied benches with an outlook on the lake and the setting sun.

“Sure” Taylor responded and they sat down, quietly talking to each other about everything and nothing with intervals of silence when they just admired their surroundings and listened to the birds chirping.

They were completely comfortable with each other without talking and just enjoying each other’s presence. They didn’t often get a chance to, much less in a public space. Taylor’s head comfortably rested on Karlie’s shoulder and her hand on her thigh, absentmindedly drawing circles on the girl’s jeans.

Just when Taylor was about to suggest to keep walking, they saw a girl and her dog approach the other bench next to them. The dog stopped right in front of the bench and the girl leaned down to feel around for a spot to sit.

They realized the girl was blind and the big, black dog was her service dog. The girl had long dark hair and a petite frame.

“Good boy” she praised her dog, who sat down near her feet.

After a few moments, she turned around to where Karlie and Taylor were standing up from the bench.

“Excuse me, can you see the lake from here?” she asked towards them.

Karlie turned towards her, surprised at being addressed.

“Oh, yes, you can actually. It’s a beautiful view” she explained and smiled.

“Thank you” the girl replied and smiled too.

“Are you from around here?” Karlie asked in an attempt to make small talk.

Taylor stood next to her, unsure of what to do.

“Oh, no, I’m just in the city for a few days and my hotel is close to Central Park” the girl explained.

“What about you two?”

Karlie froze.

_Two?_

It took her a second to realize that the girl had probably picked up on Taylor’s presence by the shuffling of her feet and her breathing.

Taylor gave her a nudge, encouraging her girlfriend to keep talking.

“Oh. Yeah, we both live here” the taller girl responded, trying to sound nonchalant.

“That’s so cool” the other girl gushed.

“I’m planning on moving to LA within the next few years. What do you guys do here?” she asked.

Then she quickly added: “Oh sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Molly.”

She didn’t stretch out her hand but instead waited for Karlie to speak next.

Karlie and Taylor moved around to sit next to Molly on the bench before introducing themselves.

“I’m Karlie. I study here, I’m a senior at college.”

Taylor swallowed the lump in her throat, unsure what to say.

“That’s awesome” Molly said. “What about you?”

She said it so genuinely interested, Taylor wanted to burst into tears. The girl had no idea she wasn’t supposed to be aware of her presence, much less talk to her.

“I’m … I’m Alison. I’m a musician” Taylor finally said.

Technically, neither of this was a lie. Nevertheless, she grabbed Karlie’s arm for comfort, nervously holding onto it.

Molly seemed to think about that for a second.

“That’s great … I have to say, your voice sounds kinda familiar. We haven’t met yet, have we?” she asked innocently.

Taylor’s heart sank into her boots.

“Um … no, I don’t think so” she said and laughed nervously. She desperately wanted to change the topic.

Molly simply hummed in response.

“So how do you like New York?” Karlie asked quickly, coming to Taylor’s rescue.

They talked about the good and bad things New York had to offer, with Taylor staying quiet during the entire conversation. She liked Molly, but at the same time everything in her told her to get away from this situation, and she was scared about what would happen if she spoke one more word.

She zoned out of the conversation, instead staring at the lake and the small circular waves that appeared on it.

“You two are a couple?” was the next thing she heard, and the question sent shock waves through her body. She turned around to look at the two others again.

“Yeah, we are” Karlie replied shyly, and Taylor noticed her girlfriend running her hand through her hair, a sign that she was nervous.

She squeezed Karlie’s other hand, not wanting to whisper in front of Molly.

“Cute” the small girl simply said and smiled.

“I’d love to keep talking to you guys, but I have to go back to my hotel before it gets dark” she added after a few seconds.

She bent down to pick up the handle of the harness, and the dog immediately got up.

“You can pet him by the way, it’s ok” she said before either of the two other girls could respond.

“We have to keep going too” Karlie said while leaning down and scratching the dog between his ears.

Taylor followed suit, and the dog wagged his tail excitedly, not seeming to know the difference between Karlie’s and Taylor’s visibility either. Taylor was reminded of her own cats, who didn’t act any different around her and appeared to still be able to see her as well.

“It was lovely meeting you” Karlie said and Molly returned the sentiment. Taylor only dared to utter a quiet ‘goodbye’ before they parted ways.

They watched Molly and her guide dog walk in the general direction of the closest exit and went on into the opposite direction, wanting to walk around the lake some more before heading home. The sun was still setting, touching the crowns of the trees and prolonging shadows. The air had cooled off and they kept their hands in their coat pockets.

They quietly discussed the incident that had just occurred for a while but spent the majority of their walk and the subway ride back to Taylor’s place in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

 

***

 

When Karlie came out of the bathroom with her toothbrush still in her mouth to look for something in her overnight bag, Taylor unexpectedly addressed her from where she was sitting on the bed.

“Thanks to you I’m literally on the internet right now looking at alien conspiracy theories.”

Karlie wanted to reply, but only managed to get out unintelligible sounds without spilling toothpaste everywhere.

“I’m never watching documentaries with you ever again.”

Karlie ignored her girlfriend. She found what she had been looking for in her bag and returned to the bathroom, but kept the door open.

“Next time we’re watching a romantic comedy!” Taylor shouted at her dramatically.

Karlie finally was able to respond: “The documentary literally had nothing to do with aliens. It was about space. It just mentioned how there’s aliens in space, probably. You just have an imagination too wild for your own good sometimes” she stuck her tongue out at Taylor, and then closed the bathroom door again.

“Karlieee” Taylor whined dramatically and put her phone down on the nightstand.

A few moments later, Karlie came out of the bathroom again.

“Drama queen” she teased her girlfriend.

“Nerd.”

Karlie huffed in mock-offense.

“Let’s go to sleep, I have classes again tomorrow” she said as she climbed into bed, not giving in to Taylor’s antics further.

“Where are you?”

“I’m right here” Taylor giggled and lightly touched Karlie’s arm.

They snuggled closer to each other, getting into a comfortable position, Karlie being the big spoon.

“Are you ok?” Karlie asked softly, Taylor’s hair tickling her face while she spoke. Behind their joking and teasing, Karlie felt like Taylor had been tense ever since they had met the girl at the park.

Taylor gently rubbed her thumb over Karlie’s fingers before replying.

“Yeah. A lot happened today” she said truthfully, sounding tired.

Karlie hummed in response, making Taylor squirm as her breath tickled her skin. Taylor’s soft giggles gave Karlie goosebumps.

“It’s gonna be ok” she did her best to reassure her girlfriend.

They stayed like that without talking for a while more, the only sounds being the noise of the cars on the street that came through the window. Karlie was already drifting asleep when Taylor spoke up again quietly, sounding half asleep already as well.

“I feel so safe and at ease right now.”

Karlie didn’t reply but instead sleepily snuggled even closer to Taylor, hoping to convey her feelings through the body contact. Both of them fell asleep only moments later, soothing each other through the steady rhythm of their breathing.

 

***

 

_She looked around the room, but nobody seemed to notice her. Not being used to the indifference of the people around her, she simply stood there in awe, observing her surroundings. She looked down at herself. She was wearing a sparkly blue dress and high heels._

_Then the next thing she knew she was outside in the pouring rain. Her dress was sticking to her body and her feet were bare. There were no other people around._

_She started walking down the street, feeling free and happy. Carefully she attempted a dance move, and then another, going along with the song inside her head. There was nobody around who could tell her not to._

Karlie woke up and felt disoriented for a second, then she remembered she was at Taylor’s house. She had no idea how long she had slept, but it couldn’t have been long. Everything was quiet, except for Taylor’s movements. Karlie could feel her tossing and turning on her side of the bed. Sometime during the night they must have somehow untangled their limbs and each moved to their own side of the bed. Karlie groaned and closed her eyes again, desperately wanting to fall back asleep.

_She was dancing through the rain along an empty street. Her dress was sticking to her body and her hair and make-up were ruined, but it didn’t matter. She felt happy and free. Her dance moves were getting bolder, she was jumping up and down, turning in pirouettes and swinging her arms back and forth. There was no one around to tell her she was being embarrassing. The world was hers._

Not being able to fall back asleep, Karlie simply lied there with her eyes open, staring at the ceiling. It was still dark outside, and only occasionally the headlights of a car outside would shine through the blinds, illuminating the room for a brief moment. She could still hear Taylor next to her, tossing and turning. She tried to stretch out her arm towards Taylor, but the singer was too far on her side of the bed for her to touch.

_She didn’t know where this road was leading, or how long she had been out there. She didn’t know if anyone was looking for her, or expecting her at the end of the road. She was completely in the moment, dancing in the rain all by herself. Occasionally she would pass under a street lamp, its dim light softly illuminating the abandoned street. She never once stopped in her tracks, instead going along with the moves she was making up._

Karlie sighed and sat up in bed to take a look at her phone. The time read 3:13 AM. She looked at the moving sheets next to her and decided to reach out to Taylor again and to soothe her from whatever dream she was having.

She quietly called her name, trying to wake her up.

_“Taylor …”_

_She could hear her name being faintly called in the distance. She hadn’t even known that that was her name, but she somehow knew she was being called in that moment. She stopped in her tracks, and as she did so, the rain stopped falling, and the ground under her feet felt softer. She blinked, and her surroundings started to dissolve._

She opened her eyes.

“Taylor …”

She now could tell that it was Karlie’s voice that was softly calling her name, and she became aware of Karlie gently rubbing her arm.

A moment later she heard Karlie take in a sharp breath and turned around, still a little disoriented.

She directly looked into Karlie’s green, wide open eyes. Instantly her mind was put at ease, but there was a reflection of confusion and surprise in those eyes that she couldn’t place.

It was only when Karlie spoke that she understood.

Karlie felt a jolt go through her body when she finally looked into her favorite pair of blue eyes again. She nevertheless needed a moment to fully process what that truly meant.

When she did all she managed to get out was a delicate whisper, but it was more than enough.

“Taylor … I can see you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> List of characters with speaking roles based on real-life people
> 
> Their words, thoughts and actions in this story are purely fictional and are not meant to imply any real-life resemblance. The other characters are original characters, any resemblance towards real-life people is purely coincidental and unintentional.
> 
> Taylor Swift, Andrea Swift
> 
> Karlie Kloss, Kimby Kloss, Kariann Kloss
> 
> Beverly Yanez, Nahomi Kawasumi, Kelley O’Hara, Christen Press
> 
> With a special guest appearance by Molly Burke
> 
> (this is such a fandom crossover oh God :D)
> 
> ____________________________
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who read this story and for leaving kudos, I appreciate it very much!


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